Frozen Assassin
by RWTalent
Summary: James Alexander, a promising Assassin from England, must travel to Arendelle, an Assassin-less country, to prevent the Arendellian royals from falling to the Templar's influence. But between the politics, the Templars, and Elsa and Anna, James will have his work cut out for him. [Elsa, OC] [Anna, Kristoff]
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome all! For those of you who don't know, I'm RWTalent. I've got two other stories, both of them follow the same characters, you should go check them out.**

 **Anyways, if you enjoy the story, tell me. If you have suggestions, share them, I listen to them. So please, follow, favorite, and leave a review or PM me.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **RWTalent**

 **(I don't own any series or characters of those series besides characters of my own invention)**

* * *

 **James:**

"Ah, brother James, good morning. Please, sit with us." Master Damien greeted me, gesturing to a chair across from him in the headquarters of the Assassin Brotherhood in England.

I took a seat in a soft red chair across from the master assassin. The room was somewhat dark, only being lit by candles and lamps, throwing shadows around the room. A low burning fire crackled in a fireplace in front of the chairs, heating the room from the early morning chill. The windows had the curtains drawn and where boarded up on the inside, secrecy is one of the main tenants of the guild.

"As you have probably heard, the royal family of the Norwegian kingdom of Arendelle has just opened up their gates and are looking to reestablish trade connections and open new ones. And as expected, the Templars are looking to induct Arendelle's queen into their ranks." Master Damien informed me, reaching around his chair and pulling up a small bundle of papers.

"They're pushing for recruitment right off the back?" I asked accepting the bunch of papers. That's quite unlike them. Usually the Templars simply manipulated people in power, and didn't even consider allowing them into their ranks unless they prove that they're extraordinarily useful, or stupid.

I sifted through the papers, basic information on Arendelle and its royals. A rudimentary sketch of two women, a blonde and a redhead. And a detailed map of Arendelle Castle.

"Well, this is a...different situation. You see, good Queen Elsa has supernatural powers over ice and snow."

I looked up surprised, powers like that had never been heard of before. And that would be a substantial reason for the Templars to recruit her straight away. "So, shall we be recruiting her to our cause?"

"No, we need to figure out where her allegiances lie first, then we shall see if we can risk have such a global public figure in our ranks. So for now, you just need to keep the Templars well away from her."

"Wait, you said 'you'."

"Yes, you are going to Arendelle." Damien handed me a ticket. "You leave in the morning, pack your bags."

"You're sending me? Alone?" I asked, usually at least two or three Assassins were sent on protection missions, and for important missions like this we usually send way more.

"Yes, you, alone. You are nearly a Master Assassin yourself, and with this last assignment consider it done."

"Wait, you're going to make me a Master Assassin, just for protecting one royal?" I asked, amazed.

"Well, no. You'll be defending both royals, and as I've heard Princess Anna is quite a handful." Damien said with a chuckle. "But, whatever guild you create in Norway is yours. You'll be the Grand Master of the North East."

I was speechless, no one had ever been promoted so far so quickly. Almost twenty years of service to the Assassin Brotherhood were about to pay off. Damien smiled, "What are you waiting for, get going."

I dismissed myself and quickly left the room, going straight to my quarters in the hideout. I whipped out a large briefcase and started gathering all the things that I might need. Multiple sets of my Assassin robes, my sword, street clothes, a dagger, throwing knives, and my hidden blades and all their various codex attachments. Once I had finished, I quickly exited the hideout and hailed a carriage.

We rode to the docks where the ship that would take me to Norway was docked. I paid the coachman and dragged my luggage onto the ship and straight to my quarters. I made sure my luggage was safely secure, after pulling out and strapping on my hidden blades.

Making my way to the top deck, I pulled out the sketches of Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. I tried to memorize every detail I could about them so I would notice them at first glance. The captain of the ship, who had walked up behind me, spoke up.

"You going to meet Arendelle's royals?" The captain asked, noticing the sketches.

"In a way," I replied. "You know them?"

"I know Princess Anna, she makes a point of getting to know everyone in the city. Queen Elsa on the other hand, she's more reclusive. I've only ever seen her a couple of times. She spends most of her time in the castle, but it's to be expected from such an introvert. Especially after she froze her entire kingdom."

I shot the man a confused look.

"Oh don't worry, it was on accident. And she thawed everything out after a day or so. Shame though, after that little spectacle very few countries want to associate themselves with Arendelle, not even a potential suitor has shown up." The captain elaborated.

I nodded, mulling over the new information. "Well, thank you...?"

"Andrew Adkins." He said, shaking my hand.

"James Alexander." I replied.

I looked over the ship. It was a three-masted frigate with port and starboard cannons, with more cannons below deck. Red coated men rushed around tying ropes, raising sails, and generally doing ship work. There were a few men on board with weapons, but there was nothing more advanced than a very crude musket, and very few had anything more dangerous than a small knife for cutting food and rope. Nothing really seemed out of place, so I decided to take closer look.

I closed my eyes and breathed for a second, focusing my thoughts, then reopened them. The world around me took a darker shade, and the people on board became grey silhouettes as I entered what was called "Eagle Vision".

Captain Andrew beside me glowed a bright blue, meaning he was a friend to me at heart. I searched over the crew, focusing on each person individually. I stopped when I spotted a group of three men. They all glowed bright red, meaning that they held hostile or dangerous intentions. They all gathered near the front of the ship and all had both knives and crude muskets.

I snapped out of Eagle Vision and turned to Andrew. "You see those men up front?"

The captain squinted at the men. "Yeah, what about them?"

"How well do you know them?" I asked.

"Not very, the man that owns most of the docks in England insisted that they come aboard. They've really been nothing but trouble, drinking and threatening everyone." The captain said. "Why? Do you know them?"

I thought for a moment, considering my options. "What if I told you I could get them off your ship?"

"I'd say as long as it works, go for it. Just don't bring me in on it." The captain said with a smile.

I nodded, then started making my way over to the men. Andrew was right, they really were loud, I could hear their conversation before I had made it halfway across the ship. There were practically shouting about how many people they've beaten up and how they did it. I smiled, this was going to be easy.

As I passed them, I made sure to get close enough to bump into one of the men as I did. The man I bumped into stumbled forward and into one of his friends, making both of them spill their drinks. All three rounded on me with angry expression on their faces.

"Why don't you watch were you're going, blondie." One man said. He had a thin scar on his face, and remains of a once full head of brown hair.

"I do watch were I walk." I said cockily. "I just don't pay attention to the dirt I walk through."

It took the men a second to process what I had said, so I took advantage. "Wow, you guys are _really_ slow. I'll make this simple for you; screw off."

The men drew their knives and closed in on me. I smirked as I reached back and pulled on the hood of my robes.

The first man lunged at me. I dodged to the right, grabbed the man's arm, snuck my shoulder under his elbows, and pulled down. The man's arm bent backwards with a snap. I grabbed the knife out of the man's limp hand and threw it backwards at the man to my left, the blade sinking deep into his stomach. I spun under the man's broken arm and kneed him in the crotch.

The third man backed away slowly, his knife dropping to the deck. I grabbed the first man by the throat as he started to fall to his knees. I lifted him up then, with a twist of my hips, threw him back multiple feet, knocking him out instantly. I raised an eyebrow at the remaining man and pointed at the ship's railing.

Almost without hesitating, the man rushed over to the railing and dove off the ship, into the ocean. I looked up to find Andrew staring wide-eyed at me with his jaw dropped, along with every other man on the ship.

"What?" I asked, I looked at the men on the deck, both moaning in pain. "Oh, sorry about the mess."

"'Sorry about the mess'? Sir, I've never seen anyone take three men in a fight so fast." Andrew said. "And it couldn't have happened to better men. Don't worry about the mess, we'll clean it up. As a matter of fact, we owe you."

"Oh, don't bother. I needed a good stretch anyways." I tried to brush off the offer.

"Nonsense." Andrew said. He thought for a moment, before his eyes started to twinkle. "You know what, I've got the perfect reward. When we get to Arendelle, I'll introduce you to Princess Anna and see if I can't get you an audience with Queen Elsa."

I raised both eyebrows at that, not believing my luck. "Well...If you _insist_. I'll have to accept."

Andrew laughed. "I don't know where you come from, Mr. Alexander, but wherever that is, they produced an _amazing_ fighter."

I smiled to myself. _If only you knew_.

* * *

 **And there it is, the first chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed, if you did leave a review, send me a message, follow, favorite.**

 **RWTalent**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello all, chapter 2 has arrived before I have to go back to school and can't write as often. I've got a few chapters pre-written so you'll have some chapters for a while regardless. I'm interested to see if you found this story on it's own or are reading my other story, "Ascension and Descension". But anyways, if you like this story, please follow, favorite and leave a review.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **RWTalent**

* * *

 **Elsa:**

The Snow Queen, Elsa of Arendelle, walked through Arendelle Castle, shuffling through a stack of reports from her counsel. One about imported goods from England on their way, one about visiting priests from France, and a letter from Japan.

 _Wait,_ Elsa thought. _We don't have any relations with Japan._

Elsa stopped, setting down the rest of the papers on a bench off to the side of the hallway. She opened the letter, it's not snooping when you're queen, and started to read the letter.

It was a letter from the Japanese Emperor's steward...responding to a letter from Elsa's council. _I don't remember them telling me they sent a letter to Japan_ , Elsa thought, irritated. She read further.

 _Dear Arendelle Royal Council, with no offense, hostility or animosity towards Arendelle or its ruler, but we regret to inform you that the Emperor of Japan does not wish to create a union between himself and Queen Elsa. And the Imperial Court of Japan supports this desire. We do not wish to associate our new government with the witchcraft of Queen Elsa. The only possible way we would consider a relationship is with the normal, yet undoubtedly beautiful Princess Anna._

Elsa stopped reading at that point, which coincided with the bottom of her stomach dropping. It was no mystery that her council was desperately seeking any king, prince, or vaguely royal man who would consider a courtship with her, and were having trouble. They had scoured and written to every kingdom in Europe and a few in Asia. And now they were searching in the Far East.

At first, Elsa and her sister Anna had laughed at the letters of rejection, saying that those fools didn't know what they were missing. As the letters kept coming in, they stopped laughing but it still didn't bother Elsa, not in the least. But now, after months of the council searching and an actual pile of rejection letters in her office, it was starting to get at Elsa.

Not one royal in all of Europe, not one, was interested in her. Even if she wasn't interested in marriage, it still hurt that no one would consider it. She knew logically that it was because of her powers, but not even the war-mongers wanted her for her power, they were also afraid of her, so no matter how hard she tried to fight it, she couldn't help but think it must be something to do with her.

She hadn't told Anna that she was feeling inadequate, she could practically hear Anna giving her a lecture on how she was beautiful and anyone who didn't agree was either blind or stupid. But it was getting harder to hide how she felt, especially with her ice powers reacting to her emotions.

She looked down and noticed ice spreading from her feet in a huge circle spanning the entire hallway. She sighed and unfroze the floor. She heard footsteps approaching her and looked up. Coming down the hallway towards her was Councilman Alek, who stopped and bowed to her.

"Your Majesty..." He started to say, until he noticed the sad expression on her face and the letter in her hand. "Ah, so the Japanese don't wish to expand their influence. Well, it's there loss." He said with a smile, trying awkwardly to cheer her up.

"Do you need anything, councilman?" Elsa asked, not in the mood for pleasantries.

"Actually," He said, his smile turning more sincere and growing. "I have good news for you. A man by the name of Bolverkr is returning to Norway from Rome, in Italy, and has decided to spend a while in Arendelle on his way back to his home city."

"So you're thinking of giving him an official welcome?"

"Of course, he's spoken quite highly of you and Arendelle while in Rome and because of that we're doing a good trade with a faction of the Roman government." Alek explained. "I just think we should thank him for all he's done for us."

Elsa thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement. "Of course, that sounds like a great idea. When will he arrive?"

"There's no way to tell for sure, but we believe he will dock his ship in a few weeks."

"Tell Kai and Gerda to prepare for his visit, and a guest room in the castle for him." Elsa said.

"As you wish, Your Majesty." Alek said with a bow, then continued walking past her.

Elsa looked down at the letter still in her hand before freezing it solid and dropping it. The frozen letter smashed to pieces on the floor. Elsa took a deep breath to calm her nose, then decided the best thing for her to do was spend some time with her sister. Anna always found a way to make her feel better.

After asking around the castle, Elsa found Anna in the front courtyard of the castle, dancing around with Olaf. Elsa smiled as she approached the two.

"Be careful not to step on his feet, Anna," Elsa called. "You'll crush him."

Anna looked up and blew a raspberry at Elsa. "Hey, Elsa. What'cha up to?"

"I was thinking of taking a break to spend time with you." Elsa smiled.

"Of course!" Anna said, engulfing her sister in a huge hug.

"A-Anna, c-can't breathe!" Elsa choked out.

"Oh, sorry." Anna said, pulling back. "So, what do you want to do?"

"Well, I was-" Elsa started before being cut off as someone walked through the gates.

The man looked like a sailor; tied back black hair, a rough looking stubble, wrinkled shirt and pantaloons. He stopped when he noticed Anna and Elsa. He bowed quickly, "Your Majesty, I didn't know you were out here, I'll excuse myself."

"No, no. Don't go for my sake." Elsa said, hiding her disappointment. "Were you here for a reason?"

"Yes, well." The man started nervously. "I had the pleasure of ferrying a young man from England who...well, took care of quite a large problem on my ship. And I was hoping that I could introduce him as a favor, since I know Princess Anna so well."

"Oh, well I was just about to spend some time with Elsa..." Anna said apologetically, before her face lit up, signaling an idea forming in her mind. "Oh! Oh! Elsa, you can meet him with me. We can do it together!"

"I don't wish to impose on her Majesty," The captain said.

"It's no problem." Elsa cut him off. "As long as my sister is with me."

"Awesome!" Anna shouted. "Lead the way Andrew!"

While still a little nervous around Elsa, Andrew led the two royals through the city towards the docks. He led them to a little restaurant on the docks, overlooking the fjord. Elsa had eaten there once or twice since the Great Thaw and really liked the drinks they served.

"He should be waiting in here." Andrew said, holding the door open for the royals. "Right over there." He pointed once they were inside.

At the far side of the restaurant, the wall was open leaving a perfect view of the fjord and the ocean beyond. At one of the round tables at the edge, just a few feet from the railing sat the man Andrew wanted them to meet.

The man had his back to them, looking silently over the gentle waves and bobbing ships. He was somewhat slouched in his char and seemed to slightly blend into the background if she wasn't really looking at him. He had strait, blonde hair a few shades off from Elsa's hair. He wore a long black and blue hooded cloak that somehow seamed both ornate and functional. Elsa was a little off put when she noticed he wore a sword on his belt, but proceeded none the less.

She walked up behind him, "Excuse me, sir?"

The man looked up at her and she was met with an amazing set of green eyes. It was as if someone had taken the greenest of tree leaves in spring time, distilled it, and used that to fill in the man's eyes. He had a strong jaw-line and laugh lines around his eyes and mouth. He had a small scar that ran from a little right of the man's nose down past his lips and stopped shortly before his chin. The little stubble he had didn't look rough like Andrew's, he managed to make it look fashionable.

"Oh, hello." He stood up from his chair. "I must apologize, the ocean distracted me. You must be Queen Elsa."

It took a second for Elsa to respond to the man's greeting. Her voice had been taken away when he stood up. He was _tall_ , taller than any normal man in Arendelle. Probably an inch or two above Kristoff, the tallest of the ice harvesters.

"Y-yes, I'm Elsa. And you are?" Elsa greeted, extending her hand.

"James Alexander, from London." James answered, lightly shaking her hand and bowing.

"Hi, I'm Anna!" Elsa's sister interjected, jumping in front of James.

Unfazed in the slightest, James grinned and bowed to her. "It's nice to meet you too."

"Your Highnesses," Andrew said. "This man here is the most talented man I have ever met."

James blushed. "Andrew, you don't have to-"

"Oh no you don't, you are going to get the introduction you deserve." Andrew told James sternly. The captain turned back to the royals. "Not only was he able to fight three armed thugs at the same time, but he picked up all the intricacies of sailing in a week, _and_ managed to disable a pirate ship without ever being seen."

Elsa looked at James, her guard was the most elite in Norway, possibly most of northeastern Europe, but she didn't believe any one of them would be able to do all three of those feats in one trip from England to Arendelle. Yet James didn't look too happy about being complimented so much, he seemed more and more uncomfortable as Andrew continued to recount his achievements to Elsa and Anna.

Elsa decided to save James from continued embarrassment. "So James, any reason you came to Arendelle?"

"Well, things in London kind of stalled for me. So I came to Arendelle for some opportunity." James explained.

"What kind of opportunity? Maybe we could help?" Elsa offered. She mentally smacked herself in the forehead. She didn't know why she offered to help him, she didn't even know what he was looking for.

"I don't really know to be honest." James said. "I was just going to look around for a while. See where I could be useful."

"Oh! You could try out for the new guard positions!" Anna exclaimed, causing Elsa to jump in surprise. "We're hiring new guards and you could _totally_ do it."

Elsa suddenly got very nervous, she didn't know why. She just thought about all the awkward situations she often got in, from little things like getting food stuck in her teeth to big things like forgetting to bring a towel to her bath. "Oh, you wouldn't want that job. It doesn't pay too well, and it doesn't have dental." Elsa tried to convince James.

"Don't be such a stinker Elsa." Anna said, causing Elsa to blush very badly. "It would be awesome to have you in the guard, James. Please, please, please, try out!"

James tried to interject, but Anna continued asking. He finally sighed in defeat, but smiled regardless. "I promise, I'll _try_. Won't make any promises beyond that."

"Awesome! I can't wait to see you fight!" Anna squealed. Elsa really wished Anna would calm down, she was probably alienating James.

Elsa shook herself. _What are you thinking Elsa?_ She thought to herself. _Pull yourself together_. She took a deep breath. "Yes, I guess it would be an interesting try out."

James looked at her, and butterflies fluttered around in her stomach. She tried to clamp down on it, but just couldn't manage it. "Well then. I'll make sure it's the most interesting try out you've ever seen."

Suddenly a crash sounded from the docks. Andrew looked out and scowled. "Apparently they can't unload luggage without damaging it. I apologize, Your Majesties but I must see to my ships unloading." And with a bow, Andrew quickly walked out of the restaurant.

James looked out at the docks too, then huffed in irritation. "Of course it's _my_ luggage. Of all the things to drop." He turned to Elsa and Anna. "I'm afraid I must see to my luggage as well."

With a bow, the interesting new stranger went the same way as the captain did. Elsa suddenly remembered a crucial fact. "James! The tryouts are in two days, in the main courtyard of the castle."

James looked back at her, and smiled at her, the butterflies acted up again. "I'll remember that. Good day, Queen Elsa."

Once James was gone, the two sisters got a table in the restaurant to have lunch. As Elsa was looking over the menu, she looked and noticed Anna smirking at her. Elsa looked up with a questioning frown. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh, no reason." Anna said, trying to look natural. "So, how about James? How do you _feel_ about him?"

"Oh, god, Anna." Elsa said. "Please don't start with this. I've just met him. And _I_ don't fall for people I just met." Elsa said with a smile.

Anna just smirked. "Have it your way, Elsa. Have it your way."

Elsa grumbled frustrated. _I was just nervous about meeting a new person_. She claimed. _I'm just mildly interested by him as a foreigner. That's it; mild, plain old boring, interest._


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm back! Just a heads up, things may get hectic in February with school and extra papers to write. But in April and on-wards I'll have tons of free time to write.**

 **Anyways, I love you guys' response to the first few chapters, and because of that, I got super into writing the story. So the more you guys react like you have been, the faster I write. So, for both of us, follow, favorite, and leave a review.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **RWTalent**

* * *

 **James:**

 _Well, that was interesting_. I thought to myself, pulling my luggage out of the fjord. I looked back at the restaurant and saw the two royals walking further into the building.

I had figured out what Master Damien meant when he said when Princess Anna could be a handful. But Queen Elsa was harder to figure out; reserved, yet I could tell she was having trouble holding herself together. I could tell this would be a very interesting assignment.

A portly looking, older man came up to me as I shook off my bag. "Excuse me, sir. My name is Kai. I'd like to welcome you to Arendelle, is there anything I can help you with."

"Hello Kai, I'm James Alexander." I gave my bag a final shake. "And actually there is, where can I find a room to stay in?"

"Of course, please follow me." Kai led me through the city of Arendelle, the capital of Arendelle the kingdom. The homely, comfortable buildings lining the street had open windows letting in the crisp, pre-winter air. The citizens of Arendelle walked around peacefully, looking at goods being sold in stands lining the streets, and talking happily to each other. A few guards walked around, they generally looked peaceful and content, I noticed they all had swords and a few had crossbows.

We eventually stopped at a tall building that I assumed to be a hotel of sorts. Kai turned to me, "Here we are, once again welcome to Arendelle."

I smiled at the man and bid him farewell. I walked in to the hotel and up to the wooden front desk. Behind the front desk sat a small woman, dressed up for work, with brown hair pulled back in a pony tail. She glanced up from some papers, looking bored, then did a double-take. Her pupils dilated and she paled. She quickly ducked down trying to hide behind the desk, despite that fact that I was tall enough to see her over the desk.

She quickly ran her hands over her hair to try to flatten it and straightened her shirt. Then she popped back over the desk with a large smile. "Hi! My name is Christie, may I help you?"

"Uh, yes. I need a room." I said.

The girl, Christie, laughed a little too hard. "Of course. I'll just need your name." She said, bringing up a clipboard for me to sign. She left her hands on it a little too long so when I reached for it, I had to make contact with her hand.

She made some sort of "nervous" laugh and drew her hand back, brushing some hair behind her ear. I gave her a " _seriously?_ " look and signed my name on the paper.

"So." She said. "Why have you come to Arendelle?"

"For the warm weather." I said in a monotone, knowing what she was trying to do.

"Well, maybe I could show you around." She said like being shown around by her was a great privilege.

"Mmm. As tempting as that sounds, I'm going to have to take a rain check." I said, taking my bag and the key Christie handed me. Then I headed immediately towards the nearest staircase.

"Well, I'm available! I mean, I'll take you whenever you want! Just call for me!" Christie called after me as I started up the stairs. I made a nondescript noise, neither a yes nor a no and continued up the stairs.

My room was very basic. Just a bed, a window looking over Arendelle, a small table in the corner, and off to one side a countertop to make food. I hid my bag underneath my bed. Rolled up each of my sleeves and checked to make sure my hidden blades where in place and still functional. I pulled the hood of my coat up and rolled my sleeves back down.

Instead of passing Christie the reception lady, I instead opened the window and hopped onto the windowsill. I climbed up to the roof of the hotel and looked out over the city. I started making a mental map of the city and making a list of things I needed to do to set myself up. First on the list; find a more permanent place to set up the brotherhood.

I noticed a worn down building towards the center of the city, it looked like a cross between a mansion, a church, and a very small castle. But it's windows were boarded up and there were a few holes in the roof. But the building was perfect, just a bit taller than the rest of the buildings in Arendelle and very easily defensible.

I made my way over the rooftops, hopping from one building to another. Besides the occasional child noticing me, no one paid me much attention, too focused on what was happening right in front of them. Eventually, I climbed back down to street level in front of the building.

There was a pair of guards in front of a gate through a shoulder-height brick fence that ran around the building. An old man in suspenders was arguing with the guards, who were quickly losing patience.

"Please, if you don't get those thugs out of there I can't sell the building!" The old man pleaded.

I smiled. _What luck_ I thought to myself. I approached the men.

"Queen Elsa has told us to wait until we deem it safe to remove them. And we don't deem it safe." One guard said as if he had said it hundreds of times.

"But it has been _months_!" The old man cried.

"Excuse me, did you say this building is for sale?" I asked the old man from behind.

All three men jumped, surprised by my sudden appearance. The old man turned to me. "Y-yes, but there are thieves in there, you don't want it at the moment."

"How kind of you." I said. I pulled a pouch of gold from under my coat. "But I can take things from here."

The old man looked at the pouch, then at me worried. He obviously wanted to sell the building for _any_ price. But he was too honest to sell the house if he thought it was unsafe.

"Trust me." I told the man. I put the pouch in his hand. "Take the money. "

The old man didn't look very happy, but nodded none the less. "If you say so. Good luck, good sir."

As the old man walked off I turned to the two guards. "Gentlemen, you may leave. This building is under new ownership, and I'd like to report that there is no longer a problem with men inside."

The two guards looked at each other and shrugged. "Whatever man." And the two started to walk off."

I made my way through the gate before stopping and calling back to the guards, "Oh, and if you'd be so kind as to prepare a couple of cells." Then I continued to the doors.

I walked up to the pair of old doors and judged that the wood was super weak. I shrugged, _I'll have to make improvements anyways_. I lifted my foot and simply kicked the door in. The wood splintered and the doors flew open with a loud bang.

I slowly walked into the main room as ten armed, rag-clothed men came running in. The all had swords, but they didn't look like they were very well trained judging on their stances and the way they held the swords.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen!" I said. "This building now belongs to _me_. So if you would kindly...get out."

"Who the hell are you?" One of the men demanded.

I drew my sword with my right hand and let my left hidden blade shoot out. "Just a man from London."

One of the men charged me, swinging his sword horizontally at my head. I ducked under and drug my sword across his thigh, bringing him to his knees, then I spun around and elbowed him in the nose. The man fell to the floor.

Two men charged me at the same time, one from the left and one from the right. The man on the left swung, I deflected it forward with my hidden blade then swung my sword around my head and used it to cut the man's hand, forcing him to drop his sword. He bent over clutching his hand.

The man on the right tried to bring his sword down on my head but I continued the motion of my sword and brought it up to smack his sword to the side. I skipped over and kicked the man in the stomach. Then I skipped back over and kneed the first man in the nose, knocking him out. Then I swung around and used my free hand to back-fist the second man in the temple, knocking _him_ out.

The biggest man of the group stepped forward, judging from the way he walked and how the rest of the men backed away, he was obviously their leader. "You're going to regret walking in here, punk."

"Mmm. Don't think so." I taunted. "You guys could still get out thought."

The man roared in anger and charged. I reached my left hand under my coat and grabbed a throwing knife strapped around my waist and threw it at one of the man's thighs. As the small blade sunk into the man's leg, he stumbled. I twisted left and smacked the man's sword to the left while at the same time making a small cut on his cheek, the man stumbled back a tiny bit. Then I stepped my left foot forward, twisting to the right, and drove my hidden blade into a soft, yet non-lethal, spot of the man's chest.

The man dropped his sword, and dropped to his knees. I gave him a slight push with my left hand and he slid backwards off my blade to the ground to clutch at his chest and leg. I shook off my hidden blade and retracted it with a flick of my wrist. The other men in the room all dropped their weapons.

"Go on, get out here." I said, flicking my sword back into its scabbard. "And take your friends."

The bandits quickly grabbed their wounded friends and then scrambled out as fast as they could. I walked leisurely over to the now open doors and watched them scramble right into a group of waiting guards with manacles. I gave them a way, which wasn't returned.

I walked out to the group of guards taking the men into custody. Among them was the old man standing anxiously with the pouch I gave him clutched to his chest. He spotted me and came over.

"I-I came back to tell you I couldn't accept your money without having the building cleared out first...but I see that you handled it." He said carefully.

"Yes, well, I did tell you to trust me." I said with a smile. "Keep the money. But if I could ask a favor."

"Of course, I owe you for taking your money for a dangerous house, even if you could handle it." The man said eagerly. "Ask away."

"I'd just like to have to place renovated." I looked back at the broken doors. "And the doors reinforced. I actually have some specifications." I pulled a bunch of folded up papers from under my coat and handed it to the man.

The man unfolded the papers and his eyebrows climbed high as he looked them over. "Are you sure about this? What you have here will be very expensive."

"Don't worry about that. I'll pay for everything." I assured him.

"As you wish. You know, I never caught your name."

"Just call me James." I smiled. "Come find me when the renovations are done."


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's the next chapter in the story. I'm going to be honest here, I don't really have a solid plan for the plot, I'm just trying to make it feel like one of the better Assassin's Creed stories. So if any of you have suggestions I'm happy to hear them. So please follow, favorite, and leave a review. Shout out to all those who have already.**

 **Enjoy**

 **RWTalent**

* * *

 **Elsa:**

Two days had passed since Elsa had been introduced to the foreigner. And to be honest, her new acquaintance was far from her thoughts. She had been occupied with setting up the guard try outs and running a country.

So when the trials started and able bodied men gathered in front of the main doors of the castle as she stood on the steps to the doors, she was calm and thinking clearly. She smiled as the men gradually quieted and looked to her. Elsa scanned over the faces of the crowd, oddly enough she couldn't see her new friend.

"Welcome, brave gentlemen. And thank you for coming to try out for Arendelle's Royal Guard. While there are spots available at every level of the guard, not all of you will be given places. Keeping that in mind, please move to the rear courtyard of the castle to begin." Elsa announced to the crowd.

Around the back of the castle, the large, empty stone courtyard that Elsa referred to was were the guard applicants would demonstrate their skills and prove their worth. There was a makeshift obstacle course, two rows of practice dummies, archery targets, and a large chalk circle for sparring. Guards lined the courtyard, many holding large bags and boxes holding weapons that the applicants would be using.

The men who would be trying out split into four groups, led by four different high-ranking guards. They were brought to separate areas of the training area so that they could be judged quickly. The try-outs would be run tournament-style, with people who don't make the cut being disqualified, and from that point, the more talented and successful ones would continue through evaluation, and would be ranked.

As the candidates started running through the courses, Anna skipped up next to Elsa. "Hey, Elsa. Have you seen James yet?"

"Hm? Oh. Well, no I haven't." Elsa said. She leaned to one side, towards her guard captain, "Captain Franz, have you seen a tall, blonde man by the name of James Alexander?"

The captain of the guard thought about it for a moment, "You know, I'm not entirely sure. But I think I may have seen someone like that over in group three."

The two royals looked over to the obstacle course. Sure enough, if they looked hard enough, they could see James. Somehow, despite being much taller than everybody else he seemed to naturally blend into the crowds.

Unlike when Elsa met him, James wasn't wearing his cloak or his sword. Instead, he wore a tighter-looking long-sleeved, blue shirt with a hood and the sleeves rolled up. Around his waist he wore a red sash with the knot to one side and the remaining fabric was left flapping in the light breeze. He was next in line for the obstacle course.

"Shall we watch his run, Your Magesty?" Captain Franz asked.

"Yes!" Anna said, and started off for the obstacle course, quickly followed by Elsa and Franz.

The arrived just as the group's head guard finished giving instructions. "-as quickly as you can. Then climb up the twenty foot wall and ring the bell on top."

James lined up to ran the course, right next to him was a heavy-built man with close cropped black hair. He wore a red silk pants and an obviously expensive shirt, and around his next he wore a chain necklace with a red cross pendant. The man smirked confidently at Elsa and gave a wink. Elsa noticed James roll his eyes.

"Go!" The guard shouted. And all the contestants started sprinting.

Within the first second, it was obvious there were only two competitors, James and the over-confident man next to him. As they hit the obstacles, the two flew through them. They seemed to flow through every obstacle like water through rocks. They made it through the obstacles in only a few seconds, then they started on the wall.

While for most of the race, the two men were practically neck and neck, when they hit the wall, the royals knew instantly who was the better climber. James scaled the wall like he was born to do so, while the other man struggled to lift his body weight higher and higher. James made it to the top of the wall with a wide smile, barely breathing hard, and calmly rung the bell.

When James made it down, Anna called out to him. James looked up at her and game her a smile. The other man shoved past James, shoulder him aside with an angry scowl on his face. James shot him an irritated glace before walking over to the royals.

James bowed. "Princess Anna, Queen Elsa, and...?"

"Captain Franz," the guard introduced himself with a firm handshake."

"Please, you don't have to call me 'princess'. Just call me Anna. And the same for Elsa." Anna said.

James shot Elsa a questioning glace, to which she smiled and nodded approval. Then he turned back to Anna. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We just wanted to watch you run the course." Anna said. "But you moved so fast, we could barely follow!"

James chuckled. "I got...a lot of practice free-running in London."

"You actually broke the time record for the course." Franz said. "You beat it by an entire minute and a half."

James raised his eyebrows. "Huh. I was trying to pace myself."

"Hey! Candidate! Get back over here!" The guard shouted at James. He nodded farewell to the royals and made his way back to his group.

Elsa looked around the courtyard, seeing either mediocre performances or arrogant men going through try-outs. So she decided to stick with Anna and watch James through the rest of his trial.

The next competition was long-range weaponry. James lined up twenty paces from his target. A guard came up next to him, holding out a bow and a large case holding arrows and throwing knives. James stuck the throwing knives into his sash and grabbed the bow, holding the arrows in his hand.

Just like the last trial, James out-did all of their expectations. He fired all three arrows down-range, the first sunk in the center of the bulls-eye, the second split the first, and the third split the second. Then he threw the throwing knives with the same accuracy. They sunk in just next to the arrows, so close that little shards of arrow were shaved off.

The other man, who managed to keep up with James, pulled a similar performance, only inches away from matching James perfectly. Again, the man scowled furiously at James, who stood calmly with a small smile for his two royal friends.

Once again the group moved on, with James as the top contender, and the angry man second place. The next trial was swordsmanship with the dummies. James was handed a medium-sized sword and told to take apart the dummy as fast as he could in as many pieces as he could.

James approached the target confidently, swing the sword in lazy arches. That changed when the head guard called go.

James shot forward and in the same motion drug his sword across the dummy's stomach. Then his sword became a blur as he took off the dummy's two arms and finally it's head. As he walked back, the dummy fell into countless pieces, including the wooden pole that held it up. He handed back the sword with a kind smile that the assisting guard returned.

Captain Franz looked on interested. Elsa knew Franz had an acute sense of people's skill. And seeing how interested Franz looked, Elsa knew James would be offered a very high position. And finally, the group moved to the final challenge, the hand to hand combat chalk circle.

He was put up against the angry guy from the previous trials, who looked much too happy to be fighting James. The guard watching over them laid down the rules, "No maiming, no serious injuries. The fight stops when one of you taps out or is no longer able to fight. Be safe and respectful gentlemen."

With a bow of the guard's head the fight started. Anna and Elsa leaned in anxiously, not having seen how well James would fight. And Franz looked on with great interest.

The two men circled each other cautiously, making note of each other's footwork and body posture. The heavy-built man moved first with a haymaker. James twisted to one side, blocking the punch with his forearms. Then James simply back-handed the man, hard.

The man stumbled back, dazed, and James moved in. He kicked the man a few inches above his knee, bringing the man, grunting in pain, to his knee. The man punched James in the small bottom rib and forced him back. The man got back to his feet.

The two continued circling each other. Now more cautious than before.

James stuck first this time, he kicked up a cloud of dirt into the man's eyes then delivered a devastating-looking punch to the man's chest, knocking him back. The man rolled with it, but came up to his feet wheezing.

The man just bum-rushed James, tackling him to the ground. He startled James's chest and starting delivering punch towards James' head. James blocked the blows with his hands and squirmed, trying to get out from under the man.

"Hey, hey, get off him!" the guard called to the man, but he ignored it.

So, instead of waiting for someone to intervene, James took advantage of a small pause in the onslaught to deliver a sharp jab between the man's legs. The man fell backwards in obvious pain.

James stood up then moved on the man, who tried to keep him back with low-kicks. James then simply jumped over the man, twisting to land facing the man on the other side, the side where the man's head lay. James placed one hand on the man's chest, holding him down, then brought a powerful palm-strike to the man's forehead, knocking him out instantly.

James leaned back on his knees, finally breathing hard with a decent sweat going. A couple of guards ran over to the unconscious man, checking his vital signs. A guard approached James to do the same but was waved off.

James brought himself to his feet and walked over to rejoin the rest of his group, giving off an aura of grimness. The guards picked the unconscious man up off the floor and carried him over to a medical tent off to one side of the courtyard.

Elsa, Anna, and Franz returned to a small stage close to the castle overlooking the courtyard to conclude the try-out.

The groups gathered once again in a huge crowd. Elsa looked over to her guard captain, "Captain Franz, I believe you have got a list of the top men?"

"Yes, a combined list from all of the individual guard leaders." Franz said. But he leaned in close to Elsa and whispered, "I have an idea for your friend James. I believe he is the perfect man to be your personal guard."

"Personal guard?" Elsa whispered back. "I don't need a personal guard."

"I know you'd like to keep your privacy, but with Arendelle continuing to reach out to other nations, I think it is best." Franz explained. "Someone with skills like James' shouldn't be wasted on any sort of basic guard position. Plus, I see you two are already decently close."

Elsa thought for a moment, then leaned over to Anna. "Anna, I need you to think this over. But what do you think about James becoming my body guard?"

"Are you kidding?!" Anna whispered, still decently loudly. "That would be awesome! Not only would you be _super_ safe, James is a great guy."

Elsa nodded then leaned back over to Franz. "I think we could try for a trial period. But I think Anna and I should tell him in person and discuss it with him personally. If you could extend a formal dinner invitation."

Franz nodded. "Of course Queen Elsa."

After that, Franz listed off to the crowd all of the names who would be accepted into the guards. He excluded James' name but Elsa could see a guard hand him a letter, and his glance up at Elsa followed by a nod and a smile.

Elsa smiled to herself, maybe having a personal guard would be fun. At least it would be someone who she didn't instantly despise.


	5. Chapter 5

**Wow, I'm surprised by how much positive feedback I've gotten from this story, even being away for so long. Thanks to all you who have followed, favorited, and left a review, it's much appreciated. And if my stupid WiFi would stay with me for more than three minutes at a time, I would try to respond to all of your reviews, but I'll have to save that for next chapter with a better internet connection (I've written this intro at least three times).**

 **Anyways, the schedule for uploads will be if-y because I've got a lot of work piled up for the next few months, but I'll try my best to keep posting as often as I can.**

 **Please, leave a review (I read them all), follow, and favorite! Enjoy!**

 **RWTalent**

* * *

 **James:**

 _Dear Mr. James Alexander,_

 _The royal Queen Elsa would like to formally extend to you an offer of a dinner with the royal family. During which possible employment options would be discussed. Please be aware that none of this is mandatory, and can be rejected at any time. If you chose to accept, please be present outside of the castle doors at dusk. (Formal clothes are suggested)_

 _Sincerely, the royal family of Arendelle (Queen Elsa and Princess Anna)_

I reread the letter as a walked through the front courtyard of the castle. I had my nicest coat and pants on, along with having tucked in the loose ends of my red Assassin-sash, and I had gotten my boats shined. While I had decided to leave my sword back with my bags in the hotel room, I still had my hidden blades on underneath my coat sleeves.

The doors opened as I approached them, revealing Kai, the man who had helped me find the hotel. "Good evening, Mr. Alexander."

"To you as well, Mr. Kai. But please, call me James. And thanks once again for showing me where around."

"No problem whatsoever, James. Please, follow me." Kai said with a large smile.

Like my first day in Arendelle, I followed Kai to wherever he was leading me. We walked through vast, ornate hallways with large oil paintings and pristine suits of armor. We finally arrived at a large set of double, polished oak door that I assumed led to the dining room.

"Just through here, sir." Kai said. He opened the door and gestured to me.

I walked through, nodding to Kai in the process. I entered the huge dining room. A large chandelier hung over a long, dark wooden table. Huge, floor to ceiling windows of stained glass lined the right side of the room. On the far wall hung large banners showing the symbol of Arendelle; a single crocus. On the left side, two door probably led to the kitchen.

Three people were already sitting at the table; two women and one man. The man was large, and heavy-set, looking uncomfortable in his suit. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. Anna sat next to him, on his right side. She wore a long red dress with tasteful green highlights, and had hear hair pulled back into a neat bun, showing off her large, ever present smile.

Elsa, sitting to Anna's right, sitting alone at the head of the table, drew my attention the most. When I first met her, she was wearing a very conservative green and black dress, had her hair in a conservative bun, and looked exhausted.

Now, however she had gone through a massive transformation. She wore a shimmering blue, off the shoulder dress that shoulder off her shoulders much more. And she had her hair down in a braid over her shoulder. And instead of looking tired, her crystal blue eyes sparkled and her pale skin showed off a few light freckles. When she noticed I had entered, she smiled and her eyes lit up.

I had to stop for a moment and collect my thoughts. How princes from every kingdom around the world weren't swarming the castle, smashing through the doors to get a chance to be with her, I had no idea.

Elsa smiled, "You okay there, James?"

I shook my head clear and returned her smile. "I-I'm fine. Thanks for having me."

I sat to Elsa's right, the only person on that side of the table. Servants quickly filled in, bringing with them silver platters full of food and goblets of drinks of every kind. As we filled our plates up with food from a countless area of platters.

"James, this is Kristoff." Anna introduced the man next to her.

"Nice to meet you." I said, shaking the man's hand.

"Uh, you too." Kristoff replied, obviously not the best in formal scenarios.

I noticed Elsa looking nervous as I filled my plate. "Are you okay, Elsa?"

"I, I'm just worried we've overdone this dinner. It wasn't supposed to be such a formal event."

I couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Oh, don't worry Elsa. In London, they _constantly_ had fancy dinners. And they would overdo them all. To me, this is perfect."

Elsa smiled brightly, and once again my brain was scrambled. _Dang it,_ I thought to myself. _Get a hold of yourself_.

"So, your letter mentioned 'possible employment options'. Would you mind explaining that to me?" I asked.

"Oh, you'll love it!" Anna said.

Elsa interjected calmly. "Well, that's still up to you. Guard Captain Franz suggested that, with your degree of skills, you should be in a...higher position than a regular guard."

"What do you mean 'higher position'?" I asked.

"Well," Elsa continued, pausing for a moment. I watched her eyes flick down nervously. "We were considering hiring you as...my personal bodyguard."

I could see Elsa flinch slightly, fearing my answer. I thought it over carefully. On the one hand, it would get me closer to Elsa, and make sure no Templars tried anything. But on the other hand, it would cut down on how time I could spend building up the brotherhood in Arendelle.

I finally came to a conclusion. My mission was to protect Elsa from falling to Templar influence. I could wait to build the brotherhood. And being in the guard ranks, I'd have influence with the law. I nodded. "I'd love to."

Elsa looked surprised. She blinked repeatedly, trying to process what I had said. "Are-are you sure? You do know about my powers right? You're not afraid?"

"Yes, I'm very sure." I said, sneaking a little comforting into my tone. "And yes, I know about your powers. And, judging from that lovely dress of yours, your powers are beautiful, not scary."

Elsa stared open-jawed at me. I got the impression not many people told her things like I did. And that confused me. Elsa was kind, smart, and could be very beautiful when she wanted to. I didn't understand how no one else saw or appreciated that.

"Awesome!" Anna shouted. "I can't wait to have you working around the castle!"

"Well, Anna," Elsa said, just coming out of her surprise. "we still have to talk about his pay and where he'll stay."

We spent the next few hours discussing how much I'd be paid for protecting Elsa and my benefits. In addition, we talked about how I would be given a room in the castle close to Elsa and Anna's, and my stuff would be retrieved from the hotel room.

"Oh, I almost forgot this," Elsa said. She reached under the table and brought up a small bag and handed it to me. Inside, was a small flipbook of papers, all with the Arendellian royal seal, along with a signet ring with the crocus engraved on it. "These are your papers and ring, they'll make sure you're recognized as a royal guard since, as you aren't a normal guard, you'll just be wearing your regular street clothes."

"Oh man, oh man," Anna said excitedly, barely containing herself. "I can't wait to show you around the castle!"

Elsa looked out the windows and noticed how late it was getting. "That'll have to wait until later. For now, I'll show him to his room."

Elsa and I stood up. I shook hands with Kristoff, "Nice to meet you." And we started off towards my new room.

The queen and I walked in comfortable silence. But I could tell she was slightly nervous, she held her arms and rubbed slightly, as if comforting herself. She eventually stopped in front of a plain door. She stood with her head down, as if she was worried I would judge her. "Thanks again for taking the job."

"Why are you thanking me? I should be the one who should be thanking you for offering it, you barely know me." I said, confused.

"Oh, well, some people are...afraid of my powers." Elsa said softly.

"Really?" I asked. "I've been around town and everyone adores you."

"I'm not talking about them," Elsa said sadly, head bent.

I remembered what Andrew had said to me on my first day traveling to Arendelle. Relations with other countries had dwindled after her accident with her powers. "Not even a potential suitor" ringed in my mind. I suddenly understood why she was grateful for me accepting the job.

"Oh. Oh. I'm sorry." I said awkwardly, not really knowing what to do.

Elsa looked up to me, obviously vulnerable. "Did you really mean what you said?

I smiled as warm as I could. "Yes, I did. Your powers are beautiful, don't let others make you feel bad about them."

Elsa smiled back, a true smile, not just a formality or friendly one, but because what I had said made her truly happy. "Thank you."

I was surprised when Elsa stepped forward and hugged me. I blinked for a moment, forcing my thoughts together. Then accepted it, I wrapped my arms around her, returning the hug. Elsa slowly pulled away.

Elsa gave a soft little laugh, wiping at a watery eye. "I needed to hear that from someone. Thanks." She took a deep breath and put on another smile. "So, this is your room. Anna and my rooms are down the hall. I'll see you in the morning."

Elsa walked off towards her room. She no longer looked nervous or sad, she actually looked happy. I smiled, knowing that I had helped that change along. That was the whole reason I joined the Assassin Brotherhood, to have them approach sad, or angry, or hurt, and then watch them walk away happy.

I entered my new room in the castle. The bed was much larger than the one in the hotel, it had a full-sized dresser and wardrobe. A desk off to the right side of the room had a multiple candles lit and flickering. The large window on the far wall looked out over the rear of the castle, the fjord, and the mountain range to the west.

I noticed that my bags had been brought from the hotel, even the one under my bed, and placed on my bed. I took a few minutes to put up my clothes in my new dresser. Then I took the paperwork from the bag I had hidden and hid each individually. Then I placed my sword and throwing-knife belt on my desk, and hid the rest of my weapons.

By the time I had finished that and put on my nightclothes, it was well past two in the morning. I finally crawled into the bed, letting out a pleased sigh after realizing that the new bed was leaps and bounds beyond that of the hotel bed and the hammock on Andrew's ship. I smiled and fell asleep with another day well spent.


	6. Chapter 6

**First off, I'd like to say "wow" I had no idea how far behind on posting for this story I am. I was spending the last few days writing on it desperately trying to get something together when in fact I already have like three chapters I haven't posted yet. Sorry guys, I'm a bad poster apparently.**

 **Second off, I'm still surprised at how much positive feedback I'm still getting, thanks everyone. If you want, I'll respond to the reviews (I'm just not sure, because it gets kind of crowded at the bottom, but if you want me to I will).**

 **Last thing, I'm assuming you guys aren't opposed to violence or _ahem_ intimacy, because you're all fans of Assassin's Creed. Not that it'll happen this chapter, but it may in later ones. Remember, I don't have everything planned out, I'm kind of playing this by ear.**

 **Anyways, please leave a review if you like the story or have any suggestions, follow and favorite (shout out to all of you who already have, you're the bombs). And please enjoy!**

 **RWTalent**

* * *

 **Elsa:**

After a much better night's sleep than she had gotten in a while, Elsa made her way to the dining room for breakfast. The servants, always polite, starting preparing her breakfast as she sat down at the head of her table. Elsa jumped as the doors to the dining room, not used to someone joining her for breakfast because Anna always sleeps in, and James stepped into the room.

He was once again wearing a long black cloak with a hood and blue accents, his red sash with the ends dangling, and his less fancy shoes that looked worn and soft. He had shaved off his stubble but his hair was still fashionably messy. And his sword dangled at his side.

He stopped when he saw her, "Oh, I didn't know you were in here. I can leave if-"

"No, no," Elsa said a little too quickly. "You don't have to leave. I'm just not used to having breakfast with others."

"You've spent a lot of time alone, haven't you?" James asked as he sat down in his seat to her right.

"Yes. After an accident with my sister, I stayed in my room, keeping my powers a secret from everyone, even Anna for thirteen years. As a result, I'm not very good at talking to and with people." Elsa confessed.

"Well, for someone stuck in there room for thirteen people," James said. "I think you're doing amazingly well, if I do say so myself."

Elsa was about to thank James when a huge crash sounded from the kitchen doors, followed by lots of angry shouting and smaller crashes. They both looked over at the doors, Elsa curious and James suspicious. They stood and walked to the doors.

James pushed open one of the doors and stepped in. A shout sounded from inside the kitchen, and James's head jerked to the right. She saw a chef with angry eyes and a red face over James' shoulder. The chef held a knife in his outstretched hand, its tip glistening red.

The chef swung at James. But James waved his hand in a blocking motion, only a few inches too low. Elsa saw a flash of silver before the chef dropped his knife, gasping and holding his knife hand in pain. James straightened up, standing tall over the chef who dropped to his knees, James' left check had a new thin red line. The chef looked up at James, eyes showing fear and confusion, not understanding how James had cut his hand, Elsa couldn't even see James holding a weapon.

The other chefs rushed over and tackled the man to the floor, pinning him there as guards started coming into the dining room and kitchen. The guards grabbed the chef and dragged him out, towards the dungeons. Elsa and James stepped back into the kitchen to allow the guards room.

Elsa saw James touch the cut on his cheek lightly. "Oh my god, James, you've been cut."

"Eh," James tried to brush it off. "I've been cut before. It's not that bad."

Elsa grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the doors to the rest of the castle. "Too bad, we're getting it checked out."

Elsa dragged James to the infirmary, where she got a nurse to check out his cheek, despite his numerous protests. The doctor dabbed a bit of medicine on a cloth and held it up against James' cheek, "It's not a dangerous cut, but it was deep enough that it may scar up."

James sighed. "Another to add to the collection."

As the doctor left, Elsa stepped up to James, "Thanks for doing what you did, but I'm sorry you got cut."

"Like I said, I've been cut before. Nothing too special." James replied.

"How, uh- how did you do it?" Elsa asked. "You cut him without a blade, how?"

James looked thoughtful for a second, probably debating whether or not to tell her. He glanced left and right, checking to make sure the room was empty, which made Elsa a little suspicious.

"I did cut him with a blade." James said. He flicked his left hand, out of his sleeve shot out a short steel blade. "Just, a hidden blade."

James rolled up his sleeve, revealing a complex little device that the blade stuck out of strapped to his forearm. He flicked his hand again and the blade shot back into the device. He flicked another one out of his right sleeve and back, showing her that he had two of them.

"What are these?" Elsa asked, grabbing his arm and examining the small device. "Where did you get them?"

"They're called "Hidden Blades"," James explained. "Well, one was a gift. I made the other one."

Elsa frowned, and looked up at James. "Are these even legal?"

James shrugged, a smirk on his face. " _You're_ the Queen. And besides," He said, rolling his sleeve back down. "They're usually hidden."

James stood up, throwing the cloth away. "Elsa, if you could do me a favor and not tell anyone about them, I'd be very grateful."

Elsa smirked, taking advantage of the situation. "Mmm, I suppose I could. But you'll owe me."

James returned the smirk with a smile. "I will gladly owe you, m'lady."

Just then, Anna burst into the room. "Elsa, are you okay? I heard about the chef that went crazy and that you were in the kitchen for some reason and-"

Elsa cut Anna off. "Anna, don't worry. I'm fine, James saved me."

Anna looked to James, who stood somewhat awkwardly, obviously not very comfortable with being praised like that. "I didn't really do much-"

Then James was cut off as Anna practically tackled him with a hug. "Thank you for saving my sister."

James slowly returned the hug, still a little awkward. Anna then broke it and returned to her happy self. She bounced over to the door. "Well! Since that's all cleared up, and none of us have had breakfast, I say we go out to town to eat!"

Elsa was going to tell Anna that she couldn't, she had paperwork to do and meetings to prepare for later, but Anna led the way out before Elsa could interject. James looked over at her, "I guess we're eating out."

The two quickly followed Anna through the castle and out of the gates towards town. Once again, everybody greeted and bowed to Elsa. She still felt uncomfortable with people bowing to her, she still didn't quite see herself as a queen. But she smiled and exchanged greetings regardless.

The group eventually reached a small business that served good breakfast, a place set up by one of the castle's ex-cooks who got fired after Elsa's magic accident. They were shown to a private table in the back of the restaurant. The waiter handed them all menus and set down glasses of water and juice.

The table was up against the back wall with two of the four available seats being a booth. Elsa sat on the booth, slightly more comfortable than the cushioned wooden chairs, and Anna sat in the chair across from her, not knowing nor caring about the difference in comfort. And James sat next to Elsa, to be able to see the rest of the restaurant.

Feeling James pressed up against her left side, made Elsa's mind regress. She had had such a good track record up until this point, but the confusion of their first meeting returned. She could barely read the menu and despite her best effort she started blushing like crazy. Thankfully Anna and James were too busy looking over their menus to notice.

Elsa flicked a finger at her face, sending a cool breeze to reduce the blushing. And just in time as the waiter returned and the others looked up from their menus. The group ordered, Elsa already knew what she wanted to order. Elsa and James then sat listening to Anna describe the dream she had last night and her day so far, which surprisingly already included a bike, a pig, and a half-capsized ship.

Just as Anna was about to explain how the pig managed to rock the ship, an old man in suspenders approached the table cautiously, looking like he was trying to take up as little space as possible around the royals.

He looked at James, whose face instantly turned emotionless as he noticed the man. "Excuse me, James sir. You told me to find you when the renovations were completed."

"Thank you," James said blankly. "Have a nice day."

The man nodded quickly, bowed to Elsa and Anna, and shuffled off as fast as he could. The odd encounter managed to clear Elsa's mind, she looked at James. "Renovations?"

James looked down at his drink. "I may have bought a building here in the city. I didn't think I would be becoming your personal guard."

"That's fine, prices are cheap and you get paid well enough." Elsa said, not really understanding James' reaction.

"Oh! We should go see it!" Anna said excitedly.

"It's not really ready to be lived in though," James tried to excuse.

"That man said the renovations were done." Anna reasoned. "And it doesn't really matter, if it isn't presentable we know it's not ready."

James sighed in defeat. "Alright, let's finish up here then we'll see it."

The waiter delivered their food and Anna finished her story as they ate. But James sat oddly silent, still responding when interacted with, but most of the time he sat in silence, probably contemplating something.

Eventually, they finished their breakfast, paid for their meals, and thanked their waiter. So they followed James off into town towards his new piece of property. Elsa noticed that James took an odd path, through side-streets and back-alleys, avoiding big streets or large amounts of people. Elsa didn't know it that was on purpose or if he was still getting used to the city's layout.

Eventually, they ended up towards the center of the city. The building they approached was a cross between a mansion, church, and a castle. It had a brick wall running all the way around and only had one gate through. It's roof was domed and countless windows were obscured with red satin curtains. It had a stucco facade and many ledges on the outside of its walls.

James took out key and let them through the gate. The space between the wall and the building consisted of a large garden with a brick pathway cutting through it to a pair of heavy wooden doors. The garden had large bushes of flowers and young-looking trees, a small pond off to the right was being splashed in by a family of ducks.

James led them to the doors and held the door open for them. The royals stepped in and admired what they could see of the building's inside. The floor was clean, smooth granite. Two staircases spiraled up to either side of the far wall, in between them was an open door that revealed a comfy looking sitting room with red chairs and couches around a fireplace. The windows on the front-facing wall all had the curtains drawn, so the countless candles around the room was what lit it up. From the ceiling hung an ornate, crystal chandelier.

But the interesting thing about the room were the banners hanging around the wall. The red banners stood out against the white paint of the walls. They all had the same odd symbol in white in them, in addition to being colored in red in the center of the floor. It was an odd triangular shape with a rounded, incomplete bottom. Two strange wing-like shapes stuck out of the triangle shape, and just beneath it was a bent line with a point directed at the opening of the triangular shape.

Anna skipped around the room, a large smile on her face. "Wow! This place looks really cool!"

Elsa walked up to one of the banners, staring at the symbol. She didn't know why, but she just _had_ to know what it meant. "James, what's this symbol?"

James stood calmly in the center of the room. "It's a family crest. I adopted it from my father, as he did from his mother."

Elsa continued looking around, not entirely satisfied with James' answer, but decided to let the question drop. She stopped when she made a realization. She whipped around to face James, who raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"This is that building," Elsa said.

"You'll have to be a little more specific, Elsa." James responded.

"This is the building that the bandits were squatting in." Elsa looked around, confirming her theory. "An entire _squadron_ of guards wasn't able to force them out. Where are they?"

"I believe your guards took them into custody." James said calmly.

"Did- did _you_ get them to leave?" Elsa asked cautiously, starting to understand why Captain Franz was so impressed by James.

James looked Elsa over, taking note of her body language. "Yes, I did. But I asked them politely, and I didn't start the fight."

"You fought them all? Alone?" Anna asked.

"Yes, but I made sure the guards took them away." James said.

Before Elsa and her sister could question her guard further, a knock sounded from the door. James' whipped his head towards the door, not expecting visitors. He walked slowly forward, Elsa noticed he kept his left arm a little away from his body and at the ready. He opened the door to reveal a messenger from the palace.

The boy, out of breath, panted out, "Your Highness, you're needed in the castle. Something bad has been discovered."


	7. Chapter 7

**I apologize, it's been a while, but nevertheless, here's the next chapter. Review responses are at the bottom. Please, review, follow, and favorite! Enjoy!**

 **RWTalent**

* * *

 **James:**

I don't usually appreciate getting unexpected news, but I was very glad when I followed Elsa and Anna out of the new Assassin headquarters. I hadn't been expecting to have to show them around, and that unpreparedness had made me fall back on my Assassin training, becoming colder and less friendly.

We finally made it back to the castle and were led to the dungeons underneath and off to the side of the castle. The captain of the guard, Franz, was waiting for us. He bowed formally to Anna and Elsa, and nodded at me.

"Your Highnesses," Franz greeted. "We have some unfortunate news."

"I am aware that you have news." Elsa said regally. "Please just tell us."

"We found a strain of cantarella in your breakfast," Franz said grimly.

My proverbial ears stuck up at that. Cantarella, a strain of arsenic, was _very_ difficult to trace. How they had found it at all was suspiciously impressive. And on top of that, I recognized it. Cantarella was a poison commonly used by the Templars. And I knew for a fact that that man I fought in guard training was at least a Templar sympathizer.

I spoke up. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you find the poison?"

Franz squinted his eyes quizzically at me. "A guard saw one of his colleges pouring it over Her Majesty's breakfast and reported it."

"Did you catch the guy?!" Anna demanded. She was very obviously upset.

"Yes." Franz said, a hint of pride in his voice. "He's currently in one of the dungeons, being questioned." I stepped back and thought for a while as Elsa and Anna leveled tons of questions at Franz.

 _So, we've got a guard who tried to poison Elsa with Templar poison. Yet was dumb enough to get caught doing it_. I thought. _I think a meeting should be arranged..._

"We haven't gotten any usable information from him yet." Franz said. "A few hours in isolation should get him to talk."

Kai stepped into the dungeons, coughing politely to let them know he was there. "Queen Elsa, the councilors have convened to discuss preparations for Lord Bolverkr."

I snapped my head toward Elsa's attendant. _Did he just say_ Bolverkr _!_ I shouted in my head. I had heard stories of Lord Bolverkr while in training back in London. Assassin recruits would tell ghost stories about that man, the most brutal of all Templars in Europe. He had been responsible for the deaths of ten master Assassins in less than five years. He had single-handedly taken control of city-state after city-state in Italy. It had gotten so bad that current Italian Assassins were afraid to go anywhere without being in a group of at least three.

 _He's coming_ here _!_ I thought. I ran through plans after plans, shifting through general Assassin procedures, searching for any idea of what to do. I found nothing. So I decided that talking to the prisoner was my only option.

"Thank you Kai," Elsa said. The elderly man bowed and left. The Queen turned to me, unlike in the mansion where she looked suspiciously and slightly scared at me, she looked scared for her life, for her sister's life. "James. I won't need any protection during the meeting. I need you to help Franz, anything he needs."

"Of course," I replied immediately, without even thinking about it.

"Thank you," Elsa said, offering a slight smile. She and Anna then walked out after Kai, leaving me alone with Franz.

"So, what do you need help with?" I asked Franz.

"Right now, nothing much. The guards are trying to interrogate the prisoner right now. Then it's isolation for a few hours."

I nodded thoughtfully, a plan coming together. "Alright, I'll see if I can't talk to the shippers about anything suspicious coming into the harbor."

"That would help."

I smiled and quickly left the dungeons. I had every intention to check out the docks...just not yet. I exited the castle, careful not to be seen by anyone, and walked around to the side of the castle were a few dungeon windows opened up at ground level. I pulled my hood up, crouched down in the shadows and waited.

I focused for a moment, and activated my eagle vision. I could see through just the outer-wall, but it was enough to recognize the prisoners. Two glowing blue guards were exiting a cell that held a glowing gold figure; my target. As soon as the guards closed the cell door behind them, I pulled out a set of lock picks. I quickly picked the lock on the window leading into the cell, opened the window, and silently slipped in.

A large man was laying face down in the center of the cell. He was large and had been wearing a guard uniform, but it was now torn, ripped up, and stained in various spots. I recognized him as a switched off the eagle vision, he was the man I had fought during the guard training; the man I believed was a Templar sympathizer.

I knew the door was locked, and the man was in no shape to climb out the window, so I disregarded subtlety. I roughly grabbed the remains of his shirt and jerked him up off the floor, backwards into the stone wall.

The man grunted in pain as his head hit the wall. I waited patiently as the man came back to consciousness and recognize me. His pupils dilated and his nostrils flared in anger. He quickly stood up and tried to charge me.

I snuck an arm under one of his and twisted, throwing him over a hip, and into the opposite wall. I grabbed his hair and pulled his head back, revealing his throat. I released my left hidden blade and held it up to his throat.

"Who are you, and why did you try to kill the Queen?" I growled in his ear.

The man chuckled slightly. "You don't stand a chance. Bolverkr is coming, _Assassin_. You're a dead man, it's just a matter of time."

"Then it doesn't matter what you tell me then, does it?" I responded.

"Bolverkr doesn't tell anyone his plans." The man said. "He just told me to try to kill the Queen as openly as possible. If that stupid English-man hadn't gotten in the way of my decoy chef, she'd already be dead."

I raised an eyebrow. Did this guy really see my intervene this morning and not connect the dots? "Why is he coming to Arendelle?"

"He's going to take the throne, and he's going to form a wall of Templars against you Assassins, stretching from the bottom of Italy to the top of Norway. Then we'll start the strangling, expanding West and crushing your puny order until it pops and all of you murderers die. One. By. One." The man ranted.

"Hm," Was all I afforded the man. I let his hair go and retracted my hidden blade.

The man rubbed his head and his throat. He started to roll over, probably to try to attack me again, but he only got halfway. I delivered a sharp kick to his temple, knocking him out instantly, and instantly forming a purple bruise.

"So," I said to myself. "Bolverkr is coming to Arendelle, and he's already tried to kill Elsa, probably twice. I can't do this alone." I nodded to myself and climbed back out the window.

After locking the window from the outside and vaulting over the castle wall, I started roaming around the city. I was looking for people in trouble, but after three hours of finding nothing, I noticed a flaw in my plan. Elsa, was too good of a leader, there _weren't_ any people in trouble or angry.

I grumbled to myself as I sat on a bench, giving my feet a break from walking. "This is harder than Damien said." I told myself.

Then, a brilliant idea popped into my mind. The guard trial held countless people searching for a job. They even said that not all of them would be able to get a job. They must still be out there. All I had to do was find them...and there was a list in the castle.

A couple hours later, I was walking the streets of Arendelle once again, this time with a scroll that held all the names of the guard try-outs that hadn't made the cut. First stop; the seamstress' daughter, Earlene.

I found the her mother's shop tucked away on a little back street, flanked by cozy-looking houses. I noticed that the shop's upper windows were open. I tucked the list into the back of my belt and ran up the wall. Using the niches and ledges of the building, I quickly climbed up and through the open windows.

The room was very simple and organized. A well-made bed tucked into the corner of the room, a small desk with neat piles of paper and I assumed an organized dresser next to the bed. I sat down at the desk, kicking my feet up onto the desk-top, and waited.

It didn't take long before the woman I was looking for entered the room. She jumped slightly before standing perfectly still in the doorway. She wasn't much younger than me, around eighteen or nineteen. She was distinctly Asian, which surprised me, not many people migrated to other countries. She had dark, silky hair, and sharp green eyes.

I gestured to the bed, "Please, have a seat."

The woman slowly walked over to the bed, remaining on the balls of her feet. And she sat down on the very edge of the bed, ready to move in an instant.

"While I find your caution flattering, you don't have to worry, I'm not going to hurt you." The woman didn't budge. "Actually, I was going to offer you a job."

The seemed to effect her, she squinted questioningly at me. "What kind of job?"

"I noticed you didn't get accepted into Arendelle's royal guard. I was thinking that with a little more training, you can have a...different kind of guard position." I said.

"That doesn't answer my question." She noted.

I smiled. "No it doesn't. But the thing is, I can't tell you the details unless you accept it. All I can tell you is that you'll be protecting the country, and the freedom of its people. But there will be little to no glory to it. And the pay depends on how well you do."

The woman thought it over for a moment, before nodding. "If it means protecting innocent people, you can count me in."

"Excellent." I said. I tossed her a spare key to the headquarters that I had the old man make for me, and told her the address. "Wait there until you get further instructions. Lock the doors behind you, don't let anyone in unless they have a key as well."

I stood up and walked toward the window. I glanced back at the woman who just stared at my curiously. "Welcome to the Assassins, Earlene. Glad to have you on board."

Then I jumped out the window.

* * *

 **Aiphira:** Here's another chappy for you, no more waiting!

 **OutSquash13(Guest):** Mwahaha! Cliffhangers everywhere! But seriously, I've got way more where this is from, I just have been bogged down with schoolwork and applying to college.

 **Josef Bican:** You think it's a good idea to respond? You got it. And you've got a good point about AC's tendencies towards violence and intimacy, so you can expect blood, guts, and more. (hope it didn't turn out too "later")

 **VenomousFantum:** Ah, sarcasm, glad someone besides me appreciates its fine art. Now that the chapter's out, hopefully that "else" won't have to happen.

 **TheFOX-N3XU5:** Part 1: Sorry, no murder, no bomb, just poison. Poison and an Easter egg Part 2: Alright! Updated, boom!

 **Guest (No name on this one, so I don't really know who this is):** Sorry for the pain I've caused, have this gift of a chapter as an apology.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello all. I'm sorry it's taken a while to get this out, but I've spent the last two weeks doing IB exams. I've got three more left to do, but after Tuesday I'm done, and will be free to write and post as I please.**

 **So, please follow, favorite, and leave a review! Enjoy!**

 **RWTalent**

* * *

 **Elsa:**

Elsa rubbed her eyes tiredly and looked out the window of her study. The sun was just about to finish setting, bathing the sky in a red and pink haze. She looked back at the large piles of paperwork still left to do all across her desk. It was times like this that Elsa envied her sister, who lay sleeping on a couch a couple of servants had brought in to the study after Anna had refused to leave her side.

They were both freaked out after learning that a guard had tried to poison her. They had increased security around the castle and had Kai and Gerda running another round of background checks on all the castle's staff. While all of that was well and good, Elsa put most of her faith on James.

They had already run background checks when they hired all the staff. And the increased security wouldn't do any good against someone trying to kill her stealthily. The only way Elsa could figure out that would have any result would be to find out _why_ someone was trying to kill her. And, while she had a small suspicion about James and how he had taken possession of his house, she believed James had the skills to find out.

She started to resume her work, but was immediately interrupted as the door to her study opened and Franz walked in. Her guard captain bowed, "Your Highness."

"Captain Franz, have you found anything yet?" Elsa asked, not standing from her chair but offering her guard captain a small nod.

"About the case, no." Franz said. Elsa noticed he held a small ream of paper in his hands. "But I _have_ found something of concern."

He set the papers on Elsa's desk for Elsa to look through. Elsa flipped through, quickly scanning over the documents. It was a pile of papers from various police forces across Europe. She looked up at Franz, "What am I looking at?"

"You are looking at two sets of incident reports." Franz said. "Before we held the guard trials, we researched as best we could about all of the men, gathering information from all over the world. This pile is a set of two, one for the guard we have down in the cell who tried to kill you..."

"And?" Elsa asked, a little frustrated. Franz couldn't expect her to read all of the papers on top of all the papers she already had to do.

Franz looked troubled. "The other is about your new personal guard, James."

Elsa looked back at the papers, and flipped to the back. A sizable portion of the pile, around a third, was dedicated to James. She read through a couple of the first few; small incidents like disorderly conduct around guards, a problem of him harboring and healing a pickpocket. "These are small infractions. What are you trying to show me?"

"We tracked his record across Europe." Franz started. "After asking around, we found some peculiar things about James. For one, there was no sign of official documents that would allow him to cross all the borders he's crossed. And second, there are many occasions of James getting close to royalty in...odd ways."

"What do you mean?" Elsa asked. She could get over the minor infractions, many countries had ridiculously harsh laws and overzealous guards, but if he posed a threat to her and Anna...she wouldn't know what to do.

"Well, he turned up to the Queen of France's birthday celebration as a lute player. Then appeared at Prussia's royal court bringing in the official documents. And another time he was Austro-Hungarian princess' official stylist." Franz listed off. "Each time, he showed up, got close to the royals, survived some sort of attack, then disappeared a few months later."

Elsa wasn't sure what to think of the new information, so she relied on her captain's opinion, "What do you suggest, Captain Franz?"

"Well, as far as we've found, no royal has died in his presence, yet wherever he goes trouble seems to follow. My initial thought was that he organized attacks on the royals, pretended to be a hero to just one royal, and made away with whatever reward they gave him." Franz confided, rubbing his hands together, obviously not happy with the mystery surrounding James. "But we asked the royals, and none of them gave him a reward, or he disappeared before they could reward him. So, I can only conclude that he's being pursued by some organization."

That made sense, but something still didn't click. "If he's on the run, why would he buy property here and then buy renovations?"

"Maybe he thinks Arendelle is far enough and remote enough not to be found."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Elsa asked.

"As far as I can tell, I don't believe he's a threat to us." Franz said. "But I think we need more information, and I don't think he'd tell me and we can't force it out of him. However, I do think he trusts _you_ , at least to a degree."

Elsa thought back to the infirmary, where James showed her his hidden blades, trusting her not to tell anyone. And he _did_ show her his new house, even if he wasn't too happy about it, and didn't deny that he played a part in removing the squatting bandits. "Alright." She decided. "I'll try to figure out as much as I can."

Heavy footsteps sounded outside the study's door, and James rounded the corner and into the room. Franz quickly side-stepped to allow him in as Elsa covered up his incident reports with the top two thirds of the pile. "James, you're back!" Elsa said nervously. "How was it?"

James frowned suspiciously, glancing between Franz and her. "Uh, the docks? They were fine, nothing too interesting."

A few moments of awkward silence before Franz bowed to Elsa with a farewell "Your Majesty" and swiftly left the room.

"Did I interrupt something?" James asked.

"No. No, no, no." Elsa said. Internally, she scolded herself, _Calm down, Elsa! Just relax._

Anna mumbled something in her sleep and adjusted herself. Elsa started shooing James out of the study, "Let's go, we _don't_ want to wake her up."

The two left the study, Elsa closed the door as softly as she could. She turned and realized that the two of them were just kind of awkwardly standing in the middle of the hallway, and that she hadn't planned anything besides working for the rest of the day.

Thinking quick on her feet, Elsa picked something to do. "Hey, have you seen the gardens yet?"

"Uh, no." James said. "I've been a little busy."

"Well I'd love to give you a tour." Elsa said, leading the way through the hallways.

Elsa pushed open the doors to the castle gardens and walked out to the little clearing before the bushes grew. In the center of the gardens was a small pond where a family of ducks paddled along. Surrounding the pond was a miniature shrub maze, miniature only in that overall it was smaller than any serious maze, but the shrubs were no shorter; at least a foot above James' head. While the walls of the castle surrounded the gardens, there was no ceiling so that the flowers could get natural sunlight.

The royal gardeners had grown winter-flowers, so even when Arendelle was cold in the spring and summer, which it often was, they still bloomed. The flowers bloomed white with almost unnoticeable blue specks. The gardeners had falsely assumed that because Elsa was the "Snow Queen", that she'd prefer white and blue flowers, when in fact she preferred the pink hibiscus. Instead of asking the gardeners to undo their work, which Elsa _did_ appreciate, she simply asked for a small patch of her favorite flowers in a corner of the garden.

James walked out into the clearing with her, turning in a small circle to observe the whole garden. "Winter flowers?"James asked, "No offense, but isn't that a bit...cliché?"

Elsa giggled. _What is wrong with you Elsa, you're a queen. Queen's don't giggle!_ "I suppose they are."

"Still, they're quite beautiful." James said, softly touching one of the white flowers. He looked up and down the hedges. "Are they _all_ winter flowers?"

"No." Elsa said. "Follow me."

Elsa led James deeper into the garden, to the corner where her flowers were planted, a bright patch of pink against the overwhelming white of the garden. The two knelt down, getting a closer look at the flowers. Elsa saw a small smile on James' lips, then realized she was supposed to be looking at the flowers. "So, do you like them?"

"The Snow Queen of Arendelle, likes pink flowers." James said with a little chuckle.

Elsa shoved him over playfully, although she could feel her cheeks flush. From the ground, James laughed, "I didn't mean it like that. I actually think it's kind of cute."

 _That_ made Elsa blush like crazy. But with a little subtle cooling magic and years of suppressing emotion, Elsa managed to hide her blushing as she stood up and offered her hand to James. She noticed, despite her best efforts, that James' hands were slightly rough, like the hands of someone who spent most of his life wielding a sword or working with his hands. And yet they were slightly warm, and not at all unpleasant. All of this was purely unbiased observation, she forced herself to believe.

She took her eyes away from James as he brushed himself off, and looked up to the sky, which was dark after the sun finished setting, she hadn't even noticed that the only lights were the torches around the castle.

"I-I should get back," Elsa said. "I've got a ton of papers left to go over."

"Really?" James asked, also noticing how late it was getting.

"The work of a queen is never finished." She said sadly.

James gestured in the direction of the door they entered through. Elsa remembered that he was her body guard, and mentally face-palmed. Physically, she just smiled and started walking out of the shrub maze with James following closely behind.

Elsa scolded herself mentally the entire way back to the clearing. _Stop getting distracted. What is wrong with me?!_ She chastised herself. _Just focus on one thing at a time, not that you can practically feel James walking behind you..._

She was so distracted by telling herself not to get distracted by James that when they passed by the pond, she didn't even see the stones that stuck out to prevent people from unknowingly falling in and proceeded to trip into the shallow water.

Well, she _would_ have fallen in the water if James didn't catch her. She didn't even hear the fabric of his clothes rustle or the slight sound of something moving quickly through air. But one second she was falling into the pond, the next she was holding on to strong arms that were wrapped around her waist.

She felt James pull her back, away from the pond, but she was still too unbalanced so she started falling _again_. But James had left a hand behind her back, and so easily stopped her from falling. By instinct, she had let go of his arms and instead wrapped her arms around his neck.

She paused for a second, letting her heart beat slow down, and realized that she was staring directly into James' amused green eyes as he smirked down at her. She might have lingered for a second or two, possibly, maybe, no one really knows for sure.

She righted herself, but since she had been leaning back, caught by James, in the process of getting her feet back under her she got closer to his chest. She let her hands slip from his neck and rest on his chest. She didn't know whether he was wearing light armor under his shirt, or if he was just very well muscled, but she could feel a sturdy tightness beneath her hands.

She took a shaky breath, trying to think of something to say, then was interrupted by an excited, high pitch, girly scream. Elsa whipped her head toward the scream. The bottom of her stomach dropped out when she saw Anna, standing in the doorway to the castle with a huge grin on her face, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet.

Elsa stepped back from James quickly, to his confusion. "Anna, hold on a second-"

Anna then sprinted back into the castle. Elsa turned to James, "Uh, just, meet me back in my study."

Before James could ask the question his furrowed brow showed he had, Elsa kicked off her ice heels and sprinted after Anna, who laughed maniacally the entire time.

* * *

 **Again, sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter out. Not much action this time, but next chapter has quite a lot, I just need to develop the relationship between James and Elsa. One last thing before I respond to reviews, I'd like to know generally what you all are doing; middle/high school, college, working? Leave your answer in a response. If you have anything to say at all, leave a review, I'll answer them. Alright, here we go.**

 **VenomousFantum:** Thanks. Hopefully I didn't keep you waiting too long. Getting through the end of the school year has been rough.

 **manoftheyear1989:** I feel kind of evil, things most certainly _won't_ come together nicely all the time, if you read either of my other stories you'll know I can get downright evil, but that comes later. Glad you appreciate the responses, it takes more time but I can see the value in it. If you don't mind me asking, what are the names of your stories? I'm always looking for quality stories.


	9. Chapter 9

**Alright, I'm back, that's my bad. But I've fully graduated and gotten most of my college application stuff done. Plus, I looked at the whole word document of the story and there's still a few more pre-written chapters, so this should be easy to update. Anyways, please leave a review, follow, and favorite.**

 **RWTalent**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **James:**

I picked up the pair of ice heels that Elsa had left behind after chasing her sister. I sighed, and started towards Elsa's study. Once there I looked around for a moment, while Elsa kept her office in pristine shape, there was very little free space that wasn't a pathway since most of it was taken by bookshelves.

I decided to put Elsa's shoes behind her desk, where she would definitely see them the next day. I set them down, and caught an odd look at the papers on Elsa's desk. It caused me to look at it twice, the pile of papers on her desk were out of order and weren't piled neatly. Usually, I wouldn't pay it any attention, but I knew Elsa was borderline obsessive with being orderly, so I couldn't help myself from snooping.

I took the majority of papers which were in order and placed them in a separate pile so I could sort the rest. I froze when I realized what was on the papers, it wasn't international trade stuff like I thought it was. It was a comprehensive history of my activity in Europe, and without the information about Templars and Assassins it looked pretty incriminating.

I have to admit, a little panic started flaming up in my stomach. It was obvious that Elsa had already seen these, which means I couldn't just throw them into a fire. I had to find a way to justify all these.

After reading a little further into the papers, I figured out the perfect way to fix the problem. Towards the bottom of the pages, references were made to royals, and to other informants...that were still in Arendelle.

I put the papers back where I found them before slipping out of the study, and then out of the castle. I made sure my hood was pulled up before taking to the roofs of Arendelle, searching for the home of one of the informants. I focus for a second with my eyes closed, then opened them to see a single golden house glowing in the distance. The glow faded and I quickly ran over to the building.

Conveniently, when I got to the house, the man I was looking for was just walking out of the front door, probably to take a late night stroll. I smiled to myself, I hadn't done one of these moves in a while, it was hard on the knees, but I it was always fun.

I stood up fully on the roof, before slightly hopping off the edge, down onto the informant. After a brief moment of weightlessness, my feet made contact with the man's shoulders, forcing him to the ground. Before the man knew what had just happened, I had his collar in one hand and a hidden blade at his throat.

"Good evening, sir." I said calmly. In the late night darkness, I couldn't make the man's face out. But from the way he was trembling, I knew he was terrified.

"P-please, I don't have any money. Don't hurt me." The man pleaded.

"I don't want your money." I answered. "As a matter of fact, what I want from you is very simple. I want you to go to the castle, gain an audience with the Queen, and tell her you gave wrong information about her new personal guard."

"W-what? Why?" He asked.

Thinking quickly, I smirked a little bit before answering. I slightly pushed my blade against the man's throat, eliciting a frightened squeak. "I represent...a very dangerous group of people. And we are interested in revenge on the guard. But we are going to get revenge _our_ way. Think deeply about this, and think about how easily I found you."

I stood up, pulling him up with me. I shoved him sideways into his door. I gave him one last intimidating look and a flash from my hidden blade before stalking into the street's shadows. From around a corner, I saw the man sob hysterically for a minute before taking deep breaths and going back into his house.

I don't really like intimidating innocent people, but sometimes I just had to. I looked at a slip of paper that I had written the names down on. The next guy was staying the week on a ship in the docks. The rest of the men had already left Arendelle, I would have to send a few letters to other Assassin cells to get the job done.

I started towards the docks.

I almost walked out onto the docks, but stopped myself when I realized there were armed guards patrolling the area. I sighed, my night was slowly continuing to deteriorate. I cracked my knuckles and grabbed three small orbs from under my cloak, smoke bombs from Italy.

I threw all three and started sprinting toward the ships. The smoke bombs burst and blanketed the whole dock in a thick white smoke. The guards started coughing, rubbing their eyes, and tried to wave the smoke away.

Systematically, I went from guard to guard, first knocking the weapons out of their hands, then decking them into unconsciousness. When the smoke cleared, I stood in the center of the docks, in the middle of a ring of sleeping guards.

I scanned the ships looking for the right markings. When I found the right ship, I leaped onto the side, and climbed onto the deck. I then kicked the door to the lower levels open, and pulled a knife from my belt.

I started searching the lower levels of the ship, being careful to check the poorly lit corners and tight hallways. Suddenly, while walking through a doorway, a wood board swung around and hit me in the chest. Since I didn't have any armor on, besides the thick Assassin robes, it knocked the air out of my lungs and knocked my onto my back.

The man came around the corner and made to club me with the board again, but I kicked him back into the room. I rolled onto my feet, and didn't waste time to look for the knife I dropped, I charged into the room, talking the man and forcing him back into a wooden support. I skipped back before he could strike at me. We squared off, fists up, circling each other.

The man swung first in a right-handed haymaker, I ducked and caught him arm in mine. Then I punched him in the back, bringing him to his knees. I grabbed the man's head, dropped his arm, and flicked out a hidden blade. I held it to his throat, pressing it into his skin, enough to let him know what position I had him in.

It took a second, but the man calmed himself. I spoke first, "Are you ready to talk like a civilized man, or am I going to have to beat you again?"

"Ha!" The man said. "You don't even know what's coming Assassin. Not only is Bolverkr coming to Arendelle, but he's bringing his most trusted inquisitor. Together they will take this land for the Templars, and kill you and all the little Assassins you have with you."

"Inquisitor?" I questioned. "Who?"

"Goodbye, Assassin," the man said. "I wish I could see you try to talk your way out of this one."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

The man grabbed the hand that had the hidden blade to his throat. "For the Templars!" Then the man slit his own throat with my blade. He fell to the floor with a dull thud.

"Come out with your hands up, and unarmed!" A guard shouted from outside.

I cursed, the Templar had caught me in a trap. I looked around for an escape route. On one side of the room a circular window let out into the fjord. I wiped my blade off on the man's coat, then climbed out of the ships window, despite how small it was.

I was on the rear of the ship, away from all the guards, who were on both sides of the ship. I let go and back-fell into the fjord. I took a second to orient myself before swimming off into the murky waters.

I pulled myself out of the cold fjord a few dozen yards away from the docks, well out of sight from the guards. By now I was tired, my chest hurt, and I still had a bunch to do in Arendelle. But after that debacle, I decided it would be much safer to return to the castle, the streets would be crawling with guards.

I managed to sneak my way back to the castle and over the outer walls. I stood in the courtyard, my mind clouded with exhaustion and the fact that climbing had severely hurt my already soar chest. I looked up at the closed windows with furrowed eyebrows, for the life of me I couldn't remember which window led to my room.

I shrugged, everyone was probably already asleep, what's the worst that could happen? I chose a random window and scaled the wall. I reached the window and tugged on it, but it was locked.

I grumbled to myself and examined the lock. It was simple and large despite being put on the outside, the castle's builders probably didn't think anyone would climb the walls to get it. I used my hidden blade to force the lock's tumblers into a permanent up position and pulled the window open.

In the darkness of the room, I couldn't see any details, but decided not to light anything in case there were any guards who were looking around the castle. I silently shut the window and took off my robes and weapons, then climbed into bed.

It took me a second to realize that something was wrong. The sheets were colder than I remembered, and the bed felt larger than usual. Then something moved in the bed and a cold hand fell onto my chest.

I held in a scream of terror and looked to my right. Less than a foot away, I could see a faint white glimmer of hair, and feel a cool breath on the side of my face. Mentally I was screaming in panic, but I managed to hold it in and start to slowly slide away.

Elsa groaned in her sleep and extended her arm, enveloping me in more of a hug. I went through the entire list of curses I knew in my head, and took a calming breath. I grabbed a pillow and put it in between Elsa and I, and slowly started pushing myself away from her.

The queen wrapped her arms around the pillow as I climbed out of her bed. I tiptoed across the room and put all of my weapons and robes on. I almost made it to the window before I heard Elsa yawn and the bed springs squeaked. I dove in front of the bed just as Elsa sat up and walked over to the window. She yawned and stretched, staring out at the view.

I checked my weapon belt, I had a small dart that administered a small amount of harmless sleeping solution. I grimaced, I really didn't want to do this, but it was the only stealthy way out of the room. I took a dart and a small bamboo tube, I loaded the dart into the tube, then blew the dart at Elsa. She noticeably flinched, and grasped her neck.

Elsa started to wobble and sway. Before she could collapse onto the floor, I swooped in and caught her. I carried her bridal style back to her bed, then tucked her in, making sure to remove the dart from her neck. Then I went back over to the window and climbed out.

Once back outside, I shimmed over three windows and climbed into my room, making sure it was actually my room. Once again I took everything off, I hid my slightly blood stained robes under the bed, I'd have to get those cleaned in secret. Before going to bed, I wrote a few letters, one to the recruits at the Assassin HQ, and the rest to other Assassin cells around Europe, explaining what I needed them to do regarding the informants.

Finally, at around two in the morning, I was able to fall asleep in my own bed.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, I'll be updating again soon! Now for reviews:**

 **Chri330v**

It's coming out today, June 6, 2016 7:36 (Eastern Standard Time)

 **manoftheyear1989**

Sounds like interesting stories, I'll give them a look. And trust me, James will definitely kick more butt, it's kind of his specialty. And Anna may never drop it, mostly because I haven't decided if she will yet (haha!, all the power belongs to me!) *ahem*, apologies.

 **Destroyer856**

You got it.

 **VenomousFantum**

Thanks so much. I'm about to go into college, so I'm about to understand your problem. About romance, I'm trying to work on it in this story, my first story kind of just jumped straight into so I'm trying to take a little more time this round.


	10. Chapter 10

**Wow, it's been a while. That's my bad. Anyways, here's another chapter. Please leave a follow, favorite, and leave a review.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

 **James:**

I was woken up early in the morning by a bunch of sound in the hallway. I got up and dressed myself, making sure to arm myself lighter in case a guard stopped me, then I stepped out into the hallway.

A bunch of guards rushed past me, headed towards Elsa's room. I quickly followed after them.

A various group of people, both guards and castle staff, had gathered around Elsa's door. I was confused, the sleep dart wasn't poisonous, it barely even hurt to get hit by it. I pushed my way to the front of the group where Kai, Gerda, and Franz blocked the door, letting only a few people in at a time.

"Gerda, what's going on?" I asked.

The maid looked at Franz who nodded, "It's okay, he's the Queen's personal guard."

Gerda nodded and opened the door slightly to let just me in, "See for yourself."

I slipped into the room and made sure the door was shut behind me, then I walked over to stand next to Elsa's bed. She was still lying under the covers where I had put her last night.

Elsa turned her head towards me, she had a glassy, unfocused look in her eyes. "Hhhhhey, James." Her words were slurred and varied in volume badly, she giggled drunkenly. "Y-you're sooooo tall."

I face-palmed. One of the main ingredients for a sleep dart was alcohol. And since Elsa had practically no fat on her body, she was a serious light-weight. Essentially, she wasn't just speaking drunkenly, she _was_ drunk.

Anna burst into the room frantic, "James! What's wrong with Elsa?!"

"Uh, well..." I said as Elsa proceeded to throw her hands up, but let them fall down and slap herself in the face. "She seems to be...intoxicated."

"How did _that_ happen?" Anna asked.

"Does she have any meetings or important appointments today?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"I think so. I don't usually keep track of that kind of stuff." She said. "Do you think the people who tried to poison her are trying to sabotage her meetings?"

I looked over at Elsa, who was now trying to stand up, but kept falling back in bed. She was very much not the regal and poised queen that she usually was. I then made a snap decision that I may not be the proudest of. "...Yes. That's exactly what I'm thinking."

"What do we do?"

"How about this, you get Kai and Gerda to cancel all her meetings, and I'll make sure Elsa doesn't get into any trouble." I said.

Anna nodded quickly. "Alright, I'll do that, but what do I do afterwards?"

"Stay with Kristoff, he'll keep you safe." I responded.

Anna nodded once again and ran off. I turned back to Elsa, who had managed literally roll herself out of bed and was making disfigured butterflies on the floor. I thought for a second about what I was going to do now that I was watching over a drunk queen with ice powers.

I remembered my times in bars all over Europe, where everyone seemed to have a different sobering methods. I wrapped Elsa in one of her thicker robes from her wardrobe and got her to put on a pair of blue slippers before ushering her out of the room.

I managed to support Elsa through the castle to the kitchen, which was empty as the cooks had already finished making breakfast. I sat her down in a stool, then had to catch her as she proceeded to fall off the stool. As Elsa sat on the floor leaning against a cabinet, I looked for things the things I'd need.

I grabbed a glass of water, mixed in mint leaves, a few various roots, and splashed a coin in the water for a second. I held the glass against Elsa's cheek, the water almost cooled instantly. It took a little convincing, but I eventually got Elsa to drink the entire glass.

The queen swayed a little, her head drooped for a moment and her eyes fluttered shut. Then she shuttered, her eyes flew open, she shot up and sprinted over to the sink before violently retching. I looked at the glass surprised, I'd never used that method before, I mentally noted the recipe.

I refilled the glass and offered it to Elsa. Her face was very washed out and her eyes were bloodshot, but she took the glass and drank greedily. Once done, Elsa grimaced and put a hand to her forehead.

"Ugh, what happened?" She asked.

"You don't remember? You don't remember anything at all?" I asked. Elsa shook her head. "Well, you seemed to have been slipped some alcohol."

"What?!" Elsa demanded, then she flinched, considering she had sobered up in under two minutes I wasn't surprised to see that she had a killer hangover.

"C'mon, you need to go back to bed and drink a lot of water." I said softly, gently guiding the queen back to her room.

Once back in her room, Elsa laid down on her bed and laid a small cloth over her eyes as I pulled the curtains shut. I started to walk out of the room when Elsa called out. "Hold on, James. I need to talk to you for a second."

I hesitated, wondering if anyone would get suspicious if I used another sleeping dart, before walking back to her bedside, pulling a chair up to sit in. "Uhm, what would you like to talk about?"

"I'm just going to get straight to the point, yesterday Captain Franz came to me with a bunch of reports about what you've done in Europe." Elsa explained. "I thought about it for a while, and I decided that I should ask you about it."

I thought for a second, debating about what I should tell her, before continuing the conversation. "Alright, what would you like to know?"

"Franz and I thought that the reason you keep moving between countries is because you're being chased. Is that true?"

"Well, you could certainly put it that way." I said.

"How would _you_ put it then?" Elsa asked, noticing how I had avoided the question.

I chuckled softly, Elsa was turning out to be much more clever than I had thought. "In a way, yes, I'm being chased. The problem is, I can't tell you why. If I do, you may become endangered."

Elsa raised an eyebrow skeptically, "I'm the queen of Arendelle and have ice powers. I think I can handle myself."

"Mmm, I'm sure you can. But they won't try to fight you head on, they'll play dirty. They'll go after your people, and your sister. If you were to face them, you'd have already lost."

Elsa frowned, but seemed to accept my explanation. "If you say so." She paused for a moment to rub her forehead. "How did you know how to sober me up so quickly?"

"You already know I've been all across Europe. I've been in quite a few pubs in my time. And don't forget that I'm from England, not too far away from the Irish, and they know how to drink professionally."

Elsa laughed, then grimaced. I handed her another glass of water, which she sipped daintily. "Thank you," she said, handing the glass back.

"I've got to get back to work," Elsa said, trying to sit up.

"No you don't," I said, gently pushed Elsa back into her bed. "I got Anna to cancel all of your appointments to let you rest."

"I've got so much more than just appointments to do," Elsa insisted, trying to sit up again.

I rolled my eyes. "As you wish, my queen."

I helped Elsa up then allowed her to lean on me as we walked to her study. She was quite light, and was refreshingly cold. She leaned into my chest as she steadied herself, and the soreness from last night disappeared. I escorted Elsa to her study and helped her get everything in order, before sitting down on the chair some servants had moved in for Anna.

Elsa quietly shifted through documents, occasionally signing off on a few of them, or grumpily crumbling them up and throwing them away. I took the time to relax, empty my mind for a few minutes.

"You know," Elsa said, breaking the silence. "I never asked what your job is."

I frowned. "I'm your personal guard, I protect you."

"No, I mean before you came to Arendelle. I know you did a lot of things, but what did you go to school for?"

"Uhm, I didn't really go to any formal school." I said, a little embarrassed telling this to the highly educated queen. "I learned most everything by teaching myself from books. And I learned all the social stuff, like dancing, ballroom and dinner etiquette, while traveling Europe."

"Good, then we won't need to teach you anything." Elsa said.

"Why are you asking about this now?"

"Because I've invited a guest to Arendelle, and we're going to hold a welcoming ball when he arrives. Naturally, since you're my body guard, you'll have to be present."

"Awesome. I need anything specific? A suit, ceremonial sword or will a regular sword do?"

"We'll get you a suit, you don't have to worry about that. But there's a rule at all events here; no weapons are allowed. Also, you'll need a date."

"Wouldn't we...uh, wouldn't we be working? Seems a little inappropriate to have a date."

"You'll work for a little, but for the most part it'll just be a fun event for us to relax."

I nodded and Elsa went back to her paperwork. My short mental rest was officially ruined as I started making a list of the information I just got. From what I could guess, Bolverkr was a guest to Arendelle and he was coming very soon. I hadn't had time to meet with them, so all my assassins were practically clueless. And I still had a ton of preparations to do. I sighed and rubbed my forehead, feeling a headache coming on, and a storm brewing.

* * *

 **Alright, just a light little chapter. Not entirely sure what I was trying to do here but whatever, I thought it was good enough. Hope you all are having a lovely summer, or at least a pleasant summer. And you know what, as a treat (and to make up for not updating in nearly two months) I'll be posting a _second_ chapter tonight. Isn't retribution great? **


	11. Chapter 11

**Retribution chapter, let's go! A little heavier chapter, nearing the end of the pre-written material, this one starts to speed things up. Regardless, please follow, favorite, leave a review. I'll read them, answer questions, and even accept prompts.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Elsa:**

After sleeping off whatever had came over her the day before, Elsa got herself ready and went down to the dining hall to grab a quick breakfast. She found James already sitting at the table, eating a bowl of cereal with fruit and reading from a small stack of paper.

"Good morning, James." Elsa greeted with a smile. James glanced up and responded the same.

Elsa nodded to the stack of paper as she sat down. "What are you reading?"

"Just a few letters, a few security reports, couple of delivery orders." James said, folding the papers up neatly. "A lot of technical stuff to do."

"Well, I've got some good news then." Elsa said as a few servants laid out her breakfast. "I've got a lot of business with the guards, so I'll be protected all day. Which means you've got the day off."

"Is that so? Excellent!" James said with a smile.

"Although, if you could help us out and purchase a suit for you to wear, that would be appreciated."

"Of course," James said, cleaning his hands with a napkin. He took a small coin pouch Elsa offered him, bowed and excused himself to start on his day.

After the doors to the hall closed, Elsa finished her breakfast quickly and rushed back to her room. She quickly changed out of her ice dress and heels, and into a plain navy blue dress, a brown hooded cloak, and a pair of flat shoes. Not the best disguise, but enough to allow Elsa to move through Arendelle unnoticed.

Elsa hadn't necessarily lied about having business to do with the guards, but she certainly didn't tell the whole truth. The night before, Anna had come to her room and forced her to promise she would take the next day off. So instead of attending the meeting with Captain Franz, Elsa had determined she would spend the day learning about her own bodyguard.

She and James had gotten closer for sure, and they were both more comfortable around each other than when they first met on the dock (or rather, _she_ was more comfortable around him). However, Elsa still knew very little about the man who was supposed to protect her at all times. So she had decided to tail him for the day.

Elsa quickly slipped out of the castle and headed towards the town's main square. Hundreds of people were going about their businesses, buying and selling in the dozens of stalls set up all around the square. Even the fountain in the center of the square was busy, filled with children laughing and splashing around in the bottom pool. She twirled around, searching for James. How hard could it possibly be to find a towering man in a hooded cloak?

It took her a while, but eventually she spotted a hooded figure sliding through the huge crowds of people. Despite being almost a whole foot taller than everyone around him, James somehow managed to blend in better than anyone Elsa had ever seen, including herself and her most elite guards. She quickly pushed through the crowds, to the sound of many complaints, and started following behind James.

She kept her distance, but made sure to keep him in sight. James took an interesting path, taking the backstreet alleyways and cutting between lines of carts and carriages. Elsa had a hard time keeping up with him, she practically had to run to keep up with James' long strides and effective way of traveling smoothly through crowds.

Eventually, Elsa had followed James all the way to the house he bought. She hid behind a building corner as James opened the front gate and crossed the front lawn. She crossed the street and hesitated at the gate. This was her last chance to turn around, she desperately wanted to know more about James, but his house seemed to give off an unfriendly vibe that practically screamed "nothing to see here, _go away_ ".

 _Screw it,_ Elsa thought, and pushed her way through the gate. She snuck her way to the front door and tested the knob, locked. She backed up and looked around for an entrance, she saw an open window a few floors up.

Elsa waved her hands and created a ice staircase up to the window. She climbed up and through the window, dissolved the staircase and closed the window as quietly as she could. She summoned a little blue snowflake to her hand to light up the dark parts of the room.

She found that she had climbed into a large study. A heavy-looking oak door was to her left, a solid dark-wood desk cluttered with papers, and the entire far wall was covered with bookshelves almost completely packed with books and scrolls. Behind the desk hung a huge banner with the triangular symbol she had seen before.

Elsa tiptoed over to the desk and brushed through the papers, she was confused by what she saw. There were a few papers that looked like letters, but the words were scrambled and didn't make any sense. However, most of the papers were shipping reports about mass amounts of raw and manufactured materials being brought in to Arendelle, more than a few of them didn't seem overtly legal. In one of the desk drawers she found a thick book filled with detailed blueprints of many different types of devices, the majority being weapons.

Elsa couldn't believe what she was seeing, she backed away from the desk. Why would James be importing so much stuff, and why would he have so many weapons plans? Her internal freak out was cut short as she heard footsteps outside the door. She ran over to the window, and heard the doorknob start to jingle as someone inserted a key. She didn't have enough time to create anything to stand on outside, so she hopped out of the window, hung on to the ledge and desperately hoped no one noticed her fingers. The door opened and what sounded like two people having a conversation walked in.

"Why did you just do that?!" a man's voice asked, obviously upset.

"Just because they say they're powerful doesn't mean I'm going to be afraid of them," James' voice responded. "Besides, they're all just a bunch of thugs. In like two weeks the brotherhood would be able to wipe them off the face of the earth."

"What if they're not lying about having an artifact?" the other man countered. "And what about their threat?"

"First off, I doubt they have one, even if they did they'd tear each other apart trying to get a hold of it." James reasoned. "And second, they gave an empty threat. They won't be able to get close to anyone in the royal family."

There was silence for a moment, Elsa had to bite her lip to stop from moaning in pain from her arms and fingers. Then the unknown man spoke up again, "So you're not going to sit and do nothing?"

Even from the window-ledge, Elsa could feel the sudden tension in the room. "No, I'm not _sitting and doing nothing_. I'm _waiting_. Don't confuse the two. I personally protect the queen and the prince, and on top of that I watch over this brotherhood, my word is final."

Elsa didn't have to see inside the room to know James had sat down at his desk and the other man was brooding next to the door. She heard the man grumble to himself before stomping away, slamming the door behind him. Elsa heaved, and pulled herself up just enough to look in the window. James was indeed sitting at his desk, shifting through all the papers and shaking his head slightly.

There was no way Elsa could get back up and create a staircase. She looked back towards the ground. Both of her hands were busy holding the window ledge, but they were starting to feel like they were on fire. There was only option she could see, she hiked up one leg and planted her foot against the wall. She then kicked off the wall and turned herself to face the ground, flinging one arm she created a large snow pile below her. She rolled over again and landed in the snow on her back.

She climbed out of the snow and made it disappear. She started running toward the gate then she heard the sound of the front door close. She whipped her head around and saw a bulky-looking man, medium height, greasy brown hair tied back in a pony tail and a scar running from his right temple to the left side of his chin.

They stared at each other for a full five seconds before Elsa dashed for the main gate, the man sprinted after her. While Elsa was fast, the man was slightly faster and was slowly gaining on her. Elsa ran through the gate, then slammed it shut and used a tiny amount of magic to seal the lock, making it inoperable. The man ran into the gate, but it didn't open for him. Elsa started running back towards the castle.

Elsa turned down a deserted alleyway and kept sprinting. Elsa heard a flew clinks from above, then a gradually louder swish. Then a sudden, painful weight on her upper back and shoulders brought her to the ground. A rough hand grabbed her shoulder and rolled her over, her hood falling off her in the process.

The man she was running away from was standing over her, the same kind hidden blade James had was strapped to the man's arm, being held threateningly above her. Elsa froze, not knowing what to do. The man hesitated, seeing who Elsa was, then his eyebrows furrowed in thought. Finally, a self-satisfied smirk spread across his face.

"Now, doesn't this work out perfectly?" He said. He flicked his hand and the blade retracted back down his sleeve.

"I-I'm your queen, I demand you release me." Elsa tried to demand, but felt it was pretty weak.

"Oh, of course, Your Majesty." The man said, the sick smirk still on his face. The man stepped off the queen and pulled her to her feet. "Say, did James ever tell you one of his top rules of fighting?"

"What? No!" Elsa snapped, brushing herself off, feeling incredibly humiliated.

"Well, as a rule he says, 'deception is a fighter's greatest ally'."

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

The man's hand grabbed the front of her shirt and forced her to look at him. The man punched her in the face, forcing her to stumble back and hit her head against the brick wall. Her vision narrowed and her ears started ringing as she slowly slid down the wall. As if from a distance, she felt her hood being pulled back up over her head. She tried to move her arms to push herself up, but she was pulled up and felt a sharp pain as the man kneed her in the stomach.

She felt herself be picked up and draped over the man's shoulder as she faded into unconsciousness.


	12. Chapter 12

**Wow, it has been a _long_ time since I updated. I really prolonged writer's block and my first semester in college discouraged me from doing anything for the last few months. **

**Regardless, thanks to all those who still followed and favorited even though there weren't any updates and especially to those who left reviews and comments.**

 **Anyways, Enjoy!**

 **RWTalent**

* * *

 **James:**

The sun had just set as I was walking back towards the castle. After dealing with a bunch of paperwork detailing with the importing of all the materials that would be needed to make all the assassins sets of armor and weapons, my head and eyes ached. Then I had gone and got my suit for the coming ball. As I walked across the draw bridge back into the castle I heard the tell-tale sounds of a coming Anna; things being knocked over and guards being startled.

I sighed, feeling a full blown headache settling in. Anna was definitely was not going to help with that. I made it through the castle gates before I realized the chaos in the entrance courtyard. Guards were being organized into groups, the castle servants were running around in a complete panic, and Anna (tailed by Kristoff) was trying to be everywhere at once with her hair a complete flurry.

I navigated my way through the chaos, at one point a servant took the suit from me then disappeared into the crowds, and then I got tackled to the ground by Anna.

"James! Where have you been!" Anna demanded, standing up and pulling me to my feet.

"I was in town, Elsa told me I had the day off." I said, rubbing my back.

"So you've talked to Elsa? You've seen her today?"

"Yeah, why?" I asked. Then I noticed how panicked Anna was, the look of someone who had just last something precious in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

Captain Franz walked up, a grave frown on his face. "Queen Elsa has disappeared. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

I frowned back. "What is that supposed to mean? Of course I don't."

"All I know is that wherever you go trouble follows." Franz said, "I have half a mind to put you in chains on suspicion alone."

"What? James, what is he talking about?" Anna asked.

"I'm talking about his history all across Europe." Franz said.

"Hey! She had a meeting with you. You were the last one to talk with her." I pointed out.

"She canceled. And how do you know about that meeting?" Franz said, his hand started drifting towards the hilt of his sword. A few guards started gathering around, their hands on their swords.

Anna started backing away, a hurt and scared look on her face. Kristoff put himself between Anna and I. I subtly shuffled a foot back into a ready stance and started looking around the circle of guards gathered around.

"Okay, James, let's go. We're going to ask you some questions." Franz said, his hand solidly on his sword hilt now.

I sighed, reached back and pulled up my hood. The guards started drawing their swords, Kristoff was tossed a sword as well and started backing away with Anna in tow. Franz spoke up again, "Don't do it, James. You won't come back from this."

"I know." I said. I flicked my wrists and my hidden blades shot out. "Neither will whoever took Elsa."

A guard lunged forward. I deflected his blade to slap the face of the second guard who lunged. Another guard ran in with his sword raised above his head, I kicked him in the stomach. Franz tried to strike at me, but I pulled the hunched over man in the way, forcing Franz to swing wide. Pushing the guard at Franz knocked them both over. I started running for the main gate, which a group of guards tried to block.

I took a small sphere from one of my pockets, turned a dial on the top, and threw it at the line of guards. The sphere hit one of the guards square in the chest and shattered into a bunch of tiny shards, each of which quickly detonated with a loud _pop_ , a flash of light and started billowing a thick white smoke. Completely dazed and confused, the guards couldn't stop me from running through them and the smoke, then making it out of the castle gates.

From the top of the castle walls archers started firing arrows down on me. I tried to avoid both the arrows and the innocent bystanders, running towards the entrance to small and unused backstreets. I could hear the stomping and shouting of guards chasing after me, so when I rounded the corner of a small building I quickly scaled it and crouched down on the roof. The guards chasing me ran straight past the building I was on, not even glancing in my direction.

Now out of range of the castle archers and without being followed by guards, I started making my way back to the headquarters. Thinking I was in the clear, I didn't waste any time making a stealthy roof-top path to my house, instead I took the most direct route I could. That was a mistake.

On a relatively medium sized building I spotted the headquarters. I stopped when I heard something fall through the air and lad with the distinct sound of a man in armor landing a jump. I turned to see Captain Franz rising from a crouch and drawing his sword.

"What?! How did you follow me?" I asked.

"End of the line, no more running, assassin." Franz growled.

"Wait, you know I'm an assassin?"

"Of course! To be fair, you didn't hide it very well. Hooded robes, red sash, withheld information, and the queen's being taken by the seeming drunkenness that comes after being shot with one of your accursed sleeping darts." Franz said. "I would say you had a good run here, but you didn't really. Die knowing you were the least effective assassin I've ever had the pleasure to kill."

With that, the conversation was over as Franz leapt forward to attack. Without my sword (which was in my room in the castle that I'd have find a way to clear out later) I was stuck with my hidden blades and a dagger I kept hidden on my waist. I waited until Franz got within sword range, then shuffled forward under his sword and drew the dagger in a slicing motion towards Franz's throat.

Unfortunately the guard captain saw this coming and managed not to have his neck cut, instead my dagger just left a gash in his chest plate. His took a second then struck again. I used the dagger to block the blade, spun around and elbowed his in the face with a sickening crunch.

Franz stumbled back holding a hand to his nose which was horribly deformed and gushed with blood. Before he could mentally block out the pain and attack again, I dive rolled past him and on the way drug my dagger against the side of his knee, where his leg armor didn't protect him. The man screamed in pain as he dropped to one knee, his other now also gushing with blood.

I stepped away for a moment, having seen one or two other Templars blow themselves up once they knew they were beaten. Surprisingly, the guard captain steeled himself and rose shakily to both feet, sword still in hand, but it was obvious he was almost done.

Franz raised his sword to charge me, but I took the initiative. I threw my dagger, which impaled itself handle deep in Franz's chest, then shuffled in took the man's left shoulder and used his momentum to swing around and stab him in the back with my hidden blade. Franz fell fully to the ground, a pool of blood starting to building around him.

I stepped up to him, then crouched down next to him. I pulled my dagger out of his chest, with apparent great pain to the man. Tiny bits of blood was now coming out of his mouth as his nose still continued to bleed, but he was still taking labored breathes.

"Just so you know, I didn't take Elsa." I said, still kneeling next to Franz.

"I know," he managed. "Got a letter from the local gang saying they captured her. You Assassins wouldn't just sell a weapon like that. Oh I was so close to getting her under Templar control, gradually influencing her more and more with my suggestions, and having Bolverkr come here to marry Elsa would've sealed everything."

"Wait, he's coming here to marry her?" I asked.

"Of course, you half-wit. With her sister getting married and practically no one in Europe willing to hitch themselves to an 'ice witch', the order had an easy time setting a proposal in motion. Of course, nothing is final, Bolverkr still had to seduce her, which was what the ball was for. And then you show up, putting all our plans in danger. I tried to convince Elsa that you were an international criminal, but she was too forgiving. So I figured I have to kill you myself." The man paused to cough up some blood. "Don't think for a moment that just because you beat me, you won. Anna and Kristoff saw you fight the guards, they'll never let you come back, and even if you free Elsa, do you really think she'll side with you and not her sister?"

Franz laughed cruelly, which devolved quickly into a bloody coughing fit. Looking down at the man who had indeed made it practically impossible to have influence in Arendelle castle, I felt my headache come back. What the dying man had said changed everything. I thought I might have a chance at having the guards back me in a fight against Bolverkr, but now the opposite seems to be the truth. And he was right that with Anna and Kristoff against me, Elsa would never side with me.

I sighed and let my mind have a rest from thinking as I watched the guard captain take his last breathe and the light faded from his eyes. I closed his eyelids and picked up his sword before standing and looking at the headquarters. I hadn't had enough time to train my recruits, they weren't ready for any serious fight, but I couldn't manage much longer on my own.

I silently made up my mind and resumed my run back to headquarters.


	13. Chapter 13

**Elsa:**

Elsa gradually woke up and found that she was sitting in a chair with her hands and feet bound and her vision blocked by a blind fold. She tried to struggle for a moment and discovered that her body was difficult to move, even without considering the bindings. She tried to summon ice to break out of her bonds, but couldn't seem to manage anything beyond lowering the nearby temperature.

"Well, well, well," a gruff voice sounded from her left. Elsa turned her head toward the sound. "It appears Her Majesty has finally woken up." She heard a few snickers from multiple directions.

"Who are you? And why are you holding me here?" Elsa demanded, though her voice was weak, and it probably sounded more like a plea.

"That's simple, my dear." The voice spoke again. "We are the Wolf Gang of Arendelle. And you're here as ransom."

Elsa knew about the Wolf Gang. It was a notorious gang of cutthroats, pirates, and hardened criminals that had harassed Arendelle since before Elsa's father was born. They were well known to attack people traveling into the forests surrounding the city as well as plaguing the harbor. While not the most aggressive in terms of large-scale operations, they were one of the most brutal; preferring to use weapons modeled after the claws and fangs of the wolves that lived in the forest. Elsa hadn't expected that they would ever try holding a royal hostage.

"Whatever you want, my sister will give it to you." Elsa said. "As long as you don't harm me, you'll be able to walk away with all of your riches."

The man laughed cruelly as if he knew a terrible secret and was joined by many voices around him. "We _have_ riches, Your Majesty, we don't need any more of your gold."

"Then what could you possibly want with me?"

"I assure you it's nothing to do with your sister. You see, another gang has just established itself in Arendelle, though they prefer the term 'brotherhood'," a few snickers from the other gang members. "Either way, they're growing too fast, and may become a threat to our organization. But most of the members are very loyal to the royal family. Thus, we hold you hostage to keep them in check."

"And how do you suppose that will work?" Elsa asked.

"I spoke to the leader, he didn't seem a man to go back on his word, and I doubt any of the other members would be very forgiving to him if he did. Thus, we give you to him and in return he swears to operate under our supervision."

"You're crazy if you think that'll work."

"Am I though? Am I really?" The man said.

Three loud bangs sounded throughout whatever room Elsa was in. The room was suddenly hushed, as if everyone held their breaths.

"Looks like he's here," the man said. "Open the doors!"

The deep creaking of wood echoing through the room let Elsa know a pair of heavy wooden doors were being opened to allow entrance.

"Welcome, my old pal!" The man called out. "I see you got our message."

"No playing around." James' voice sounded through the room. Somehow his voice seemed different. It seemed louder, more demanding, and slightly angry. Elsa knew he must have been scowling at her captors, and that they may be in very serious danger. "Hand her over now."

"You're in no position to make demands! I have the queen! I have all the power! Now bow to me, or Her Majesty starts losing fingers."

Elsa then noticed something; the previously still air in the room, which had given it a dank, musty feel to it, was now moving in soft breezes of cold air. And she heard very faint click-like sounds from above her.

"This is twice now I've told you to leave Queen Elsa and her family out of this." James said coldly. "Both times you have ignored me. Know that you have done this willingly. And may whatever god you worship have mercy on your soul."

Elsa was confused. She was surrounded, probably with weapons very close to her. And she had only heard James' footsteps as he came in, for all she knew he was alone. And here he was saying good-bye to the men who could kill her in an instant, possibly by accident. What was he doing?

Then she heard four sounds that sounded like clay pots smashing on the floor. This was quickly proceeded by countless deafening bangs that echoed and intensified as the sound bounced around the room. The smell of smoke and the loud noises quickly flooded Elsa's senses. She only distantly heard the sound of heavy bodies hitting the floor, and the horrifying screams of dying men.

As the sound of fighting died down and the ringing in Elsa's ears gradually started fading, she felt someone start to undo her restraints. Elsa sagged in the chair, her body still very weak from whatever the criminals had done to her. The blindfold was carefully slipped off her head, seemingly special care was taken not to pull out any of her hair. Once the blindfold was off, she was face to face with James.

Having seen him practically yesterday, Elsa was surprised to see a few major changes. First, he no longer wore his casual robes. They had been replaced by a thick tunic-type vest made of leather over a flexible shirt. The tunic draped down to his knees but was underneath a few belts at his waist, each of which held a weapon; a dagger, a sword, a collection of throwing knives, and what looked like ceramic spheres. On a more physical level, despite having his hood darken half his face, she could see that dark circles had formed under his eyes, which no longer held a playful light, but instead had a cold, ruthless look to them, with only a small spark of worry.

"Elsa, are you okay?" James asked softly, inspecting her face and head.

He was so busy checking for wounds that he didn't catch when Elsa mustered all her strength and punched him in the nose. With a sharp _crack_ , James fell back holding his nose and small bits of crimson could be seen coming under his hand.

"I can't say that's not ironic," James muttered to himself before speaking to Elsa. "Why did you do that?"

"It was your guy that did this!" Elsa said, trying to get up and run out of the room. All she successfully did was fall to the floor in front of James. "Stay away from me."

"What? Elsa who did this?" James asked, getting to his feet.

"Your friend with the pony tail and the scar across his face." Elsa snapped, trying to push herself off the floor, but her strength hadn't returned yet, so she fell back down on her face.

"Nick, but..." James trailed off, "Actually, yeah. That sounds like him. Damn, I'm gonna have to find another ship captain."

A voice called down from above them, "Sir, there are enemy reinforcements coming from the north! Coach is in position!"

"Have everyone fall back, keep three following the coach." James called back. "Sorry, Elsa, I know you don't like too much human contact but I have to get you out of here."

Elsa felt James roll her onto her back, then slip an arm under her knees and another behind her shoulders. Finally, James lifted her up like she weighed nothing and she slid on his arms to rest against his chest as he carried her bridal-style.

Elsa's cheeks would've flushed, but the sound of fighting around her that she couldn't see distracted her from the thought of how close she was to James. Soon, she was brought into a carriage covered in red covering. James continued to keep an arm around Elsa as the cart started trundling away. Already being tired, the rocking of the carriage quickly made Elsa fall back asleep.

A few hours later, Elsa woke up once again, but this time she felt that she once again had control of her body. She opened her eyes and checked her surroundings, finding that she was lying in a bed, tucked in under the covers, in what appeared to be a log-cabin bedroom. The room wasn't very decorated, just a night-stand, a small desk in the corner, and a couple of candles, even the window was blocked up with plain brown curtains.

Elsa climbed out of bed and realized she was no longer in her commoner outfit, but in a long shirt and pajama pants. She felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment and her temper rise. Where was James? He had quite a few questions to answer.

She stormed over to the door and barged through, into what looked like a sitting area. Large leather chairs was arranged in a half-circle, facing a roaring fire. Large tables lined the outer edge of the room and were decorated with metal candlesticks, and the walls held huge oil paintings that seemed vaguely familiar to Elsa. Sitting in one of the large chairs, holding a glass of white wine and resting his head on his hand, staring into the fire, was James.

He was no longer wearing a combat outfit. Instead he was wearing relaxed pants, comfortable shoes, and what looked like a loose-fitting shirt with a hood and drawstrings. Elsa stormed over and stood in front of him.

"Good morning, Elsa." James said, taking a sip of his wine. "You've probably got a few questions, if you'd have a seat I'll answer them."

Elsa glared into James's eyes, and saw that he wasn't going to answer anything unless she sat down. So she angrily sat on the edge of the next seat, with her arms crossed.

"Wine?" James asked, gesturing to a small side-table with a bottle of wine and an empty wine glass. "For what I know you're going to ask, I suggest it."

"Ugh, fine." Elsa said, accepting a glass of wine and taking a deep drink. "First, how did I get into these clothes?"

"Ah. I promise I didn't do that, I got a female 'associate' to do that."

That made Elsa feel a little bit better, not completely, but still a bit. Elsa thought for a second, deciding her next question. "Who are you, really?"

James seemed to think for a moment. "That's kind of a complex question, Elsa. And it's a point of no return. Are you absolutely sure you want to know?"

"Yes." Elsa answered immediately. "I need to know."

James nodded solemnly. "Where to begin? Well, as a child I grew up on the streets. My parents died when I was very young, so I had to steal what I needed. Eventually, I joined up with a group called the Brotherhood of Assassin. They took care of me, trained me, fed me, paid me. I became a full member of the Assassins. After a few years of missions throughout Europe I finally got sent here to establish a branch of the brotherhood here in Arendelle."

"So, you're an assassin?" Elsa asked, growing a little afraid. "Like, as in you kill people?"

"Well," James said, scratching the back of his neck. "yes and no. I was trained for combat, assassination, stealth, all that kind of stuff. But I'm not like the typical assassin that'll take payment for missions, killing anyone with well-paying enemies. I'm part of the Assassin Brotherhood, so I only kill Templars or people who seek to oppress or take away the free will of the people."

"The Templars?"

"A group of men and women, who claim to seek 'peace in all things'. However, they're idea of peace is to control the hearts and minds of everyone. We Assassins oppose them, besides other various tasks, like protecting rights, people, innocents."

"Why all the secrecy? If you're protecting people, why not go public?"

"Really? You expect people will react positively to two shady organizations constantly fighting. People around you suddenly coming out and saying they're part of an organization that's been trying to manipulate world events in their favor? Take Captain Franz for example-" James stopped suddenly and drank the rest of his drink.

"What was that about Captain Franz?" Elsa demanded.

"Well, ahem, you see he was a knight in the Templar Order." James explained awkwardly. "And he tried to frame me for kidnapping you. Uh, actually, he successfully framed me for kidnapping you."

"What do you mean 'was'?"

James sighed. "He chased after me and attacked me. He's dead."

Elsa let that sink in. One of her most trusted guards, someone who she had gotten advice and consolation from, someone her _father_ had trusted and respected. Not only was he a part of some sort of cult, but so was her new body guard who she had thought she was getting close to. And now her guard was dead and her bodyguard just admitted he was an assassin. She shuddered.

Elsa drank the rest of the wine in her glass and gestured for James to refill it, which he did. She drained the whole thing once more, and James filled it up again. "Did - did you do it?"

"Kill Captain Franz?" James said. He sighed again, and reached around his chair. From behind him he pulled out a sword and scabbard, then offered it to her. "Yeah. I did."

Elsa took the sword with shaking hands. She looked at it for a moment then dropped it and grabbed the entire wine bottle. She abandoned her small wine glass and drank straight from the bottle, throwing all etiquette out the window. When she finally finished the whole bottle she threw it back on the side table and gasped for air, having drunk it all in one go. She felt her mind going numb as the alcohol in her blood started taking effect.

James looked worried. "Elsa, I know it's a lot to take in. Just take a moment to let it all soak in, let's not go crazy, okay?"

Elsa took a shaky breath, counting in her head to calm herself. She felt like cotton balls were being stuffed in her head, she could barely think straight. Elsa was starting to regret drinking so much alcohol, she only just realized that she was a lightweight. She suddenly felt like she had to leave, she remembered Anna would be worried to death over her, she tried to stand up.

Elsa tried to push herself out of her seat and onto her feet. Immediately she swayed as the blood rushed out of her head. James caught her before she hit the ground. "Alright, Elsa. I let you have too much to drink, that's my fault. Come on, back to bed with you."

James took her arm and wrapped it around his shoulder, then placed a hand on her hip, helping to support her weight. James helped her stumbled back to the room she had left only a few minutes before. Elsa tried not to get too flustered by James' hand on her hip.

James pulled back the blankets and laid Elsa down on the bed. He pulled up the blankets and kneeled next to the bed. "Elsa, I'm sorry you got caught up in all of this nonsense. I never planned for this to happen. I promise I'll put everything back in order."

"Oh, god, what am I supposed to do with this knowledge?" Elsa slurred.

"You don't have to do anything." James said. "As a matter of fact, it would probably be best if you forgot it all. Tomorrow you'll wake up back home and your life will return to normal."

Elsa frowned, "What about you? Will we ever see you again? Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine. But I don't know if I'll ever be able to see you again. Don't worry though, I'm pretty sure you won't want to see me again, once you find out what's going to happen soon."

Elsa started to drift off, but also felt a little bit of panic in the back of her mind. "Wait, no. How do you know I won't want to see you? We just need to clean up things with the guards, then it'll be fine, you can stay at the castle."

James smiled sadly. "I'm sorry. You know I'd like almost nothing more than that. Maybe when everything is all said and done." Elsa started fading out, her vision starting to go dark. "Sleep tight, Elsa. Don't worry, I'll make sure everything goes well."

Even though Elsa wanted to protest more, she couldn't stop herself from dropping off to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

**Surprise, I'm not dead. College destroyed my sleep schedule. Finals week destroyed my sanity. And summer has destroyed my work schedule. So, yeah. Not in quite the healthiest mental places. Regardless, thanks to all those who wrote reviews, followed, and favorited while I was indisposed.**

 **Enjoy, RWTalent.**

* * *

 **Anna:**

After attending Franz's funeral, Anna and Kristoff were walking back to the castle, dressed in all black, when a guard ran up to them. "Your majesties! Come quick, Queen Elsa has been found!"

"What!?" Anna shrieked. "Where is she?"

The two sprinted off toward the castle, leaving Kristoff to rush after them. They trio sped through the front gates, across the courtyard, and through the castle. The guard led them through the castle to Elsa's bedroom.

Elsa was sitting up in bed, leaning up against her headboard. Her hair was a mess, the sleep clothes she wore were wrinkled and crumbled, and her eyes were bloodshot. Elsa's eyebrows were furrowed in what looked like pain and she was rubbing her temples.

Anna rushed in and tackled her sister with a hug. Elsa grunted and gasped for breath. "Anna...can't breathe!"

Anna let go. "Elsa! How did you get away? Where did James hold you?"

"James? No, James didn't hold me anywhere. He saved me." Elsa said quietly, "But I don't know how I got here."

"James _saved_ you? No, there's no way. He fought the guards, he ran away from us, he killed Franz!" Anna shouted, making Elsa flinch. Anna frowned in confusion, "Why does your head hurt so much?"

Elsa blushed. "I had a few drinks, kind of passed out pretty quick."

"Wow, that gives a whole new meaning to the term 'lightweight'." Kristoff quipped to himself. Anna shock him a scathing look.

Anna turned back to her sister. "Are you okay? Elsa, please tell me what happened."

"I woke up tied up and captive to a street gang. James showed up and saved me. He took me to a house, I don't know where, and he explained something about Assassin's and Templars. I drank too much, and fell back asleep, then I woke up here. I think James brought me back."

"How did he get in here?" Anna asked, "All the guards are on high alert, and on top of that he'd have you bring you asleep too."

"Anna, I know what you saw at the try-outs, but James is more dangerous that you think. On top of killing the captain of the guard, I'm pretty sure he beat the leaders of the Wolf Gang singlehandedly." Elsa said.

"Alright, we'll pull the guards back from the search. I'm just so glad you're okay."

Elsa pushed herself up in bed. "Is there anything I need to know?

"Yes, we just got a report from a messenger pigeon that a ship is approaching the harbor. It's flying a white flag with a red cross on it. Apparently it's a ship from Europe."

"Oh no, that must be Bolverkr." Elsa said, a little panic in her voice, as she tried to push herself out of bed.

Anna held her sister down. "Don't even think about it Elsa, you just told me that you passed out twice back to back. I'll handle meeting Bolvu-Belve...whatever his name is."

"His name is _Bolverkr_. He's a dignitary from Rome who's coming back to a small hamlet he has on the outskirts of Arendelle. We're throwing him a ball for talking up Arendelle in Rome. Anna, please, I need you to calmly handle this."

"Don't worry about it, Elsa. I'll be the _best_ royal greeter in history!" Anna shouted. She gave her sister a great big hug, then ran out of the room...straight into a decorative armor with a huge crash. She shook her head before shouting, "Starting _now_."

Anna made her way out of the castle and to the dock. Kristoff stood behind and slightly off to the side as they watched a very pompous-looking ship sailed into port. She ship had three levels above the water, the top one being made mostly of glass, the second one was dressed up with iron reinforcements and covered in gold-leaf. The bottom level had dozens of iron cannons sticking out at the ready, much like the top deck which had countless ornately carved bronze-iron-gold-leaf cannons. And true to the guard's word, a white flag with a red cross flew at the top of the main mast.

Anna waited (arguably patiently), for the crew of the ship to dock, anchor, and tie down the massive vessel. With probably too much ceremony, the gangplank was placed between the ship and the dock, then half a division of guards marched down. The guards stopped just in front of Anna, then parted to reveal the ship's true passenger.

Western and central Europe must have something in their water because Bolverkr was just as tall as James, but was much broader and obviously well muscled. His hair was dark black and close-cropped, and he had a matching goatee. His clothes screamed fine-fabrics as they looked slightly shiny yet soft, a royal red cloak and traditional suit. Although he probably didn't need one, he leaned slightly on a straight cane with a snake topper that had two rubies as eyes. He held it comfortably in front of him with fingers adorned with multiple rings.

For whatever reason, despite his attempt to look high-classed and sophisticated, Anna had a sneaking suspicion that he had more in common with James than Elsa. But his surprisingly charming smile and soft brown eyes put her suspicions at ease.

Bolverkr waved a hand and his guards relaxed from standing at attention and most of them re-boarded the ship. He strode forward gracefully and spoke in a low rumbling voice, "I apologize for all of the theatrics. You must be the Princess Anna I've heard so much about."

Anna smiled at him although slightly confused, "You've heard about me?"

"Of course! You and your sister are the talk of Europe. But I don't like to pay too much attention to rumors. I'd rather meet you all in person. Speaking of which, where is your sister?"

"Oh, she had a - uh, long night. She's back at the castle resting up. But we would love to have you for dinner in the castle, that would give Elsa enough time to get her strength back."

Bolverkr smiled brightly. "That would be lovely! Now, if you would excuse me, I must see to the transfer of my stuff to my hamlet."

Anna nodded while Bolverkr took a deep bow. Bolverkr turned and went back to his ship while Anna turned back to Kristoff. "He seems nice, do you think Elsa will like him?"

Kristoff shrugged. "Nice enough. But if he's just returning to Arendelle, why does it matter if Elsa likes him?"

Anna sighed and started walking back to Arendelle castle. "Okay, Kristoff, I'll tell you the real reason the council is so interested in getting close to him is because they hoped there might be a chance for him and Elsa to start a courtship."

"Uh huh. So I'm assuming Elsa knows about this?"

"She's hasn't explicitly said so, but I'm pretty sure she knows."

"Alright. But because I know you, I have to ask what your stake in this is." Kristoff smirked at Anna, knowing that she would most certainly try to manipulate her sister's relationship.

Anna shrugged uncomfortably. "I mean, I was going to get her together with James, but then he goes crazy, kills Franz, kidnaps Elsa... Anyways, I'm going to let Bolverkr try by himself."

Kristoff nodded and chuckled under his breath. He looked like he was about to start another conversation when another guard ran up to them. Anna complained under her breath, "I swear if _one more_ guard runs up on us-"

"Princess Anna, Sir Kristoff, there's been a discovery about James." The guard said, but he was wringing his hands nervously.

"Well, what is it?" Anna demands as she pulls the guard off to the side.

"We found something in the back alleyways. Follow me." The guard then led the couple into town and through a few small, back-alleys to a section of alley blocked off by a wall of city guards.

The guards first looked at the guard leading them, then at Anna herself. They seemed hesitant but they parted for their princess. Anna almost immediately wished that they hadn't.

Laying face-down in the alleyway was a dead guy. Anna stood back, shocked, but Kristoff got closer. "Kristoff, what are you doing?!"

"Well, we gotta know what happened, and it's not like I haven't seen dead guys in the mountains." That made Anna a little sick, but Kristoff knelt next to the man and rolled him over.

The dead man was ungodly pale, with his greasy brown hair tied in a pony tail and a long scar on the left side of his face. A gruesome looking gash seemed to cut straight through the man's throat. On top of that, the splatter of blood everywhere and the cracked cobblestones underneath him led Anna to believe he had been dropped from the roof of a nearby building.

"Check it out!" Kristoff said, pulling something out of the man's jacket. It appeared to be a letter with sealed with blue wax. "It's got Elsa's name written on the front, we should get it over to her."

Anna nodded, ready to get away from the body. Before they left, Anna told a guard, "Make sure someone cleans this up, and whatever you do; don't let our guest find out about this."

The guard nodded and the two quickly ran back to the castle. They found Elsa sitting in her room brushing her hair out in front of her mirror. Elsa noticed them and smiled, but continued brushing her hair. "It took you guys a while, anything else happen while you guys were out?"

"Uh, yeah," Anna said, gesturing to Kristoff, who handed the letter to Elsa.

Elsa put her brush down and took the letter. Her skin got even paler and her eyes got wide when she noticed the seal. "Oh good god in heaven." Anna heard her sister say under her breath. Her sister quickly broke the seal and took out the letter. Her eyes raced through the letter inside and slumped back in her seat.

"We found it on a dead guy," Kristoff said. "Does that mean anything?"

Elsa started rubbing her forehead. "Unfortunately, yes, it's from James." She put her letter down. "But I can't handle this right now."

Elsa stood up and walked behind her changing screen, a flash of blue light and she come out the other side dressed fully, ice dress on and makeup tastefully applied.

"Where are you going? You just woke up, you really think it's a good idea to be walking around?" Anna asked.

"I have to approve of the next guard captain and make sure that the kitchen is prepared for a dinner with our new guest." Elsa responded, breezing past Anna and Kristoff.

"We'll come with you then," Anna said happily. Elsa didn't argue but sighed in acceptance.

Anna, trailed by Kristoff with nothing better to do for the rest of the day, followed Elsa through the castle to the training ground behind the castle.

A large group of the Castle and Royal Guard where training and testing on small obstacle courses and targets. Standing closer to the back doors of the castle, removed from the training guards, where a small group of officers with medals on their chests and cords around their shoulders.

Elsa strode up to the closest officers and cleared her throat to gain the small group's attention. The guard she had approached was about as tall as Elsa was in heels, which was unfortunate because at that height people could notice his thinning and balding hair. However, Anna would never have made fun of him because of it because of the natural-looking scowl on his face and a certain awareness in his eyes that showed a razor-sharp intelligence. His chest was decorated with medals of all different kinds. He was a decently old man, but still looked cunning and strong.

"You would be General John Madis, I presume?" Elsa asked.

The man nodded his head respectfully. "That I am, Your Majesty."

"I've looked over the potential candidates and have decided that your are best suited as Captain Franz' replacement."

"I thank you greatly, your Majesty." Madis responded. "And I look forward to serving you."

"Why are the guards training?" Anna interjected.

"Because I'm worried the guards won't be able to handle a potential break-in, considering the queen's recent kidnap, and the murder of Captain Franz." Madis answered curtly.

"And I'd like to thank you for that," Elsa cut back in. "We're going to be hosting a guest for dinner, will you be able to attend it?"

"I don't think so, I'm not so good at being diplomatic. I think it'd be best if I stayed away."

Elsa nodded. "That's fine. I can't wait to work with you."

"Neither can I, Your Majesty."

Madis and Elsa shook hands. Maids turned back to watch over the training guards. Without wasting any time, Elsa headed back into the castle and started toward the kitchen. Anna and Kristoff sat waiting at the large table in the dining hall. After about twenty minutes Elsa entered the dining hall and slumped down in her usual chair at the head of the table.

"All done?" Kristoff asked.

Elsa nodded with a sigh. "For now, at least. I think I need a good meal and an hour or two nap."

"You can't yet," Anna said seriously. "You and I've got some serious things to discuss."

Elsa's eyes snapped over to Anna's.

Anna looked Elsa square in the eyes. "What should I wear to dinner tonight?"


End file.
